


Where Have You Been All My Night

by Rogue21



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Bertolt, Bisexual Male Character, College, F/F, F/M, Inspired by Music, M/M, Romance, Sex, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2018-12-01 01:43:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 25,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11475972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogue21/pseuds/Rogue21
Summary: Another blind date, another blind failure. Bertholdt can’t handle the comments from his dates on his bisexuality and swears off another blind date until Annie offers to set him up with an old friend from high school who’s transferred to play on their college football team. Only Bertholdt has ran into him several times and never at the best of times.





	1. I Got Secrets In My Pocket

“No, what was wrong with this one?” Annie asked Bertholdt as the Barista set down their Caramel Latte and Mocha Frappuccino and Panini’s.

 

“Biphobic bitch,” was all Bertholdt said as he picked up his Panini and took a bite.

 

“Really, what did she say?”

  
“Well the date went fine until I drove her home and she said ‘listen you’re great but I don’t know about this’ I asked why and she said clear as day ‘I’m just afraid you’ll leave me for a man, I can’t handle that kind of rejection’ that’s the fourth one you’ve set me up with,” Bertholdt told her.

 

“Forgive me for not checking the bigot meter whenever I set you up,” Annie retorted.

  
“Maybe it’s just me, girls find out I’m bi, they think I’ll cheat on them with another man, guys find out I’m bi, they think I’m just keeping one foot in the door to keep up appearances.”

 

“Give me another week please, Bert,” Annie said.

  
“No, I’m done with your blind dates, you never had a problem with it, what happened there?” Bertholdt asked her.

  
“We had three dates and it just wasn’t clicking, Armin and I click better,” Annie answered.

 

“Yes, clicking,” Bertholdt mumbled. Annie met Armin at a music store and when they found out they both went to Rose University, they both were dating by the end of the week. Annie sipped her Latte and glanced behind Bertholdt to see Eren and Armin walking in.

 

“Speaking of which, here he is,” she said and waved to them.

 

“Hi Annie, hi Bertholdt, how did your date go last night?” he asked politely.

 

“Terrible, I mentioned I was bi and she did the whole ‘this isn’t going to work spiel’ it’s rather sad,” Bertholdt said.

  
“So just tell the next one you’re straight…or gay if they’re a guy,” Eren said. Armin winced at Eren’s comment as Bertholdt stared him down.

 

“Because that’s not how it works Eren, it’s not like a half and half pizza, I’m bisexual, I like both,” he told Eren.

 

“Sorry,” Eren said, although it was clear to Bertholdt that Eren didn’t really care, it was easy for him, he just came out and everyone showered him in rainbows, when Bertholdt admitted he was bisexual, he had no rainbows, just a mother whose first response was ‘like David Bowie’ which, while not being the answer he expected, was better than the alternative.

 

“Well, we’re having a party in our dorm this weekend, perhaps Annie can find you someone to take,” Armin suggested.

  
“Brilliant Armin, Bertholdt give me four days and I’ll get you a date who’s not biphobic and won’t ask you for a three-way,” Annie said. Bertholdt was sceptical but ultimately he had to accept, Annie would have done it either way.

  
“Alright, but this is the last one,” he said standing up. “Now I have to go to the library to return my books and get to class, give me a call later.” He picked up his plastic Mocha Frappuccino cup and book bag and left the Starbucks. This was the last set up, next time he was going to look for his own dates.

 

* * *

 

When Bertholdt reached the library, he had finished his drink and discarded it before going over to the checking out machines to return his three music textbooks. Just as he approached the machine, he spotted a rather tall and fairly muscular blond guy leaning against a bookcase reading a sports science textbook. He glanced up at Bertholdt who turned back to the machine. All three books returned, now he had to check out several books on composition and reading notes and tabs. Bertholdt’s music major included creating an original composition using either a brass, string or woodwind instruments, Bertholdt was talented with the violin, and looked up to Lindsey Stirling, to the point that he was also taking modern dance on the side to learn how to dance and play at the same time. As he headed over to the music section to look for the books, he saw the blond close the text book and look at him.

 

“Hey, what books were you returning?” he asked him.

  
“Uh…music books, I do a-,” he began.

 

“Bertholdt!” a voice called out and Bertholdt turned to see Sasha Blouse bouncing up to him. “Hey, sorry our date thing last week didn’t work out, can we still be friends though I know Connie wants to us to be friends after I talked to him about it on my date with him.”

  
“You’re dating Connie?”

 

“Yeah, he’s great, well see you later Bertholdt.” Sasha bounded away again from the two of them and the blond guy seemed to have a sheepish look on his face.

 

“Uh, you dated that girl?” he asked him.

  
“Yeah, my friend set us up and we only had one date and it went badly, uh…I’m Bertholdt as she clearly stated, Bertholdt Hoover,” Bertholdt said.

  
“Cool, I’m Reiner Braun, I transferred here this semester, I do Sports Science,” Reiner said.

 

“I do Music, I play the violin, I’m trying to modernise it like Lindsey Stirling and various European musicians,” Bertholdt replied, he doubted that Reiner knew of most of the violinists that he discovered through Eurovision.

  
“Cool, well uh…I gotta get to practice, I’ll see you around,” Reiner said.

 

“Uh…sure…I guess,” Bertholdt said as Reiner put the book back and began to leave the library. He was cute, Bertholdt thought and went to go find the books he needed for his project. Two books on tabbing and writing compositions and Bertholdt was ready to go to his Modern Dance class.

 

* * *

 

 

In Modern Dance, Krista was already there with her dance shoes on, ready to practice.

 

“Bertholdt,” she called waving at him. Krista ‘Historia’ Reiss, she had been his best friend since arriving at college and she was rarely seen without her girlfriend, and his childhood friend, Ymir who studied Photography. “How was your date last night?”

 

“Terrible, she started acting all weird the moment I told her I was bi,” he replied as he took off his shoes and socks and set down his book bag.

  
“That’s awful, are you okay?” Krista asked him.

  
“I’m alright, I did see a very cute guy in the library just now,” he said. Krista’s eyes lit up and she clutched his arm.

 

“Tell me everything,” she said starting to get all giddy.

 

“I’ll tell you after practice,” Bertholdt said as their dance instructor Miss Eder clapped her hands.

 

“Alright class, today we’re working on footwork, now remember you are all learning to make dance your own so Bertholdt, remember to keep in mind that you would be dancing with your violin, you remember this and the dancing will become second nature to your instrument, we all want to be in top form for the benefit in six weeks,” Miss Eder said to them.

 

“Oh God, the benefit, we’re going to need all the practice we can get, especially as I’ll be covering You’re A Mean One Mister Grinch,” Bertholdt said.

 

“I can’t wait,” Krista said. Bertholdt could wait, he had wanted to do Roundtable Rivals as he had perfected the song and was improving on the dancing, but Miss Eder said to try something more in keeping with the benefits Winter theme and let him sing. Maybe if Armin would let him, he could do his Roundtable Rival performance at his party on the weekend.

 

“Alright class, let’s begin with Bertholdt, I will press play and you will demonstrate what you have been practicing your dance, we will go over singing next week,” Miss Eder said. Everyone cleared the way as Bertholdt stood in the middle of the dance room, he breathed out and adjusted his hand to pretend he had his violin with him. As Miss Eder pressed play, he began to mimic the playing of his violin before he started to move his body to the beat, twisting his body and moving his hips so that he stayed in time. It was slowly improving in his mind, focusing on the beat without the violin made it easier to remember the steps and the song had become second nature.

 

* * *

 

 

When the song finished, he stepped into his final pose, legs apart, body in a half twist and staring down as the last note faded. Everyone clapped as Miss Eder turned off her iPod and approached him.

  
“Wonderful Bertholdt, just wonderful, your body language sang with the notes and your footwork has improved tremendously, but you still need to remember how to let your hands move to the music as well, your violin is a part of you, so it must dance too,” she said.

  
“Thank you Miss Eder,” he said rather bashfully.

 

“Don’t be so shy, you did wonderful and you will make a perfect headline act for the benefit,” she said. Bertholdt nodded and stepped off to the side as the second performer stepped up. The rest of the class went by well and Bertholdt had to bring his violin to the next dance class so he could learn ‘how to make the violin dance too’ according to Miss Eder.

 

“I never understood the idea of making your instrument dance too,” Krista said as they walked over to the campus Starbucks to get a drink.

 

“I think it’s because part of my dancing is focused on my lower body, I don’t take into consideration what the rest of me could do as well, I’m just wondering what she’s going to make me wear for the benefit,” Bertholdt replied. Everyone had a costume related to their performance and Bertholdt wasn’t sure what the costume would be for his performance. “It better not be a Grinch costume,” Bertholdt said imagining a horrible green furry suit.

 

“Well enough about dance, tell me about this cute guy you met,” Krista said to him as they entered the Starbucks.

 

“Okay, well he was tall, but not taller than me because no one is ever taller than me, he was blond, a Sports Science major, he might be on one of the college teams, not sure which, wrestling maybe, oh and his name is Reiner Braun,” Bertholdt told her.

 

“Reiner Braun, he sounds nice,” Krista replied.

 

“He is pretty cute, anyway are you and Ymir coming to Armin and Eren’s dorm party this weekend?”

  
“Yeah I think we will, are you going?”

  
“I have to, Annie’s setting me up with someone for the party, also I’m going to bring my violin and do a little performance of Roundtable Rivals.”

 

“Maybe cute library guy will be there,” Krista said.

 

“Maybe, Jean and Marco will definitely be there, which means they’ll be bringing the entire football team with them,” Bertholdt added. They ordered their coffee’s and left the Starbucks, Krista went back to her dorm whilst Bertholdt headed to the bus stop.


	2. Silver Paint And Unfortunate Names

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bertholdt goes to visit his mother who's back from New York.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had no idea what to name Bertholdt's mother so I went with the first name I thought of.

Bertholdt headed back into town to pay a visit to his mother, he hadn’t seen her in a couple weeks since she’d been out of town for work and was now taking the time to visit while she was back. His mum was his biggest supporter, paying for all his violin and dancing lessons and supporting him when he came out as bisexual, his dad was accepting but he was never around due to the army. When he reached the house, he knocked on the door and heard a series of high pitched barking from behind, the door opened and he saw his mother, Veronica, holding a very small Corgi in her arms.

“Sweetie, what a surprise, come on in,” she said letting him into the house.

“I got your message saying you got back last night and I thought I’d visit, why, why are you holding a small dog?” he asked her.

“Oh, well with you living at university and your dad on tour, I got a bit lonely, so meet Bueller,” she said waving the dog’s paw at Bertholdt.

“Bueller?”

“I didn’t pick the name, that was the name he had when I adopted him from the shelter, he was a Birthday puppy for a kid, kid named him Bueller, got bored of him after three weeks and ditched him at a shelter, so he’s mine now,” she replied and set the dog down. Bueller barked and ran into the living room and hopped onto the arm chair and lay down.

“Bueller?” Bertholdt still couldn’t believe his mum had adopted a Corgi pup, much less adopted one with the unfortunate name of Bueller.

“I know sweetie, I’m going to see if I can condition him into having a new name like Bowie.”

“It’s your dog,” Bertholdt commented as he sat down on the sofa. He was opposed to the dog being named Bowie, but that was his mother, a massive David Bowie fan who probably would have named him after the singer had his father not suggested naming him Bertholdt. “How was your trip to New York?”

“Oh the usual, soaked in the glorious post-modern culture, sat in about twenty different meetings about the new patent for Mister Petri’s new product and gave the Wall Street bankers new ways to write off their taxes, all in the space of two exhausting weeks,” Veronica said sitting down beside him.

“Two weeks for a patent?”

“Well we are working with Isayama Tech to produce this product.”

“So why did it take so long?”

“Conferences with the Japanese company at ridiculous hours and of course flying in their CFO so I could discuss with them the financial side of the whole thing, I’m just so glad Mister Petri is letting me have some time off until we hear back from Japan,” Veronica said.

“Wow, you’re going to be busy for the rest of the year then,” Bertholdt said.

“Yes, sweetie, but enough about me, let’s discuss you, how are you doing?” she asked him.

“Oh the usual, university is going well, I’m getting in practice for the benefit in six weeks and I had more terrible dates,” he replied.

“Oh sweetie, how bad were they?”

“So bad I wish I never agreed to let Annie try and set me up for Armin and Eren’s party this weekend,” Bertholdt told her. Veronica gave him a sympathetic look and ruffled his hair.

“Let me get my paints, make us some hot chocolate and we can discuss more of this over watching Labyrinth,” she said standing up. Bertholdt knew what that meant, they’d watch Labyrinth and she would paint his face with the Ziggy Stardust lightning bolt to make him feel better, something she’d always done when he was having a bad day. A film, some face paints, hot chocolate and cookies and he would be feeling much better. Of course the last time, she’d done this was when he was twelve and he had the unfortunate experience with spin the bottle at Ymir’s birthday party.

Twenty minutes later and they were watching Labyrinth and Veronica was painting a blue and silver lightning bolt over Bertholdt’s left eye.

“It’s not you sweetie, it’s their own insecurities,” she told him after he told her about all the dates.

“You think so?”

“Of course I do, when I was your age I was blaming myself too for my failed dates, it never occurred to me that the reason those guys would run was because I was an apprentice to Mister Petri and earning more in a week than those boys did in a month.”

“But this is different, with you it was your success, with me it’s my sexuality,” Bertholdt told her.

“Sweetie, you cannot change who you are or the choices you make, your father was a soldier when he met me and now he’s a high ranking officer and not once has he ever tried to make me feel bad for my success,” she said.

“It’s still apples and oranges, no one ever said to you have you tried just picking a side,” Bertholdt said.

“Sweetie, picking a side can apply to more than just who you date alright there we go what do you think?” she asked holding up the mirror. Bertholdt nodded and smiled at her handiwork.

“It’s great mum; I feel much better now,” he said realising that he would have to leave once the film ended to go meet Annie.

“I’m glad I could help, if you want I’ll drive you back to campus, so you don’t have to take the bus,” she replied. That was a relief but walking through campus back to his dorm was going to be the hard part.

“Thanks mum,” he said. Veronica laughed and ruffled his hair again.

“Sweetie, you’re a handsome boy, any guy or girl would be lucky to date you,” she told him.

“Thanks,” he said.

* * *

 

Once Labyrinth had ended, Veronica drove her son back to the campus and stopped just outside the gate, she gave him another hair ruffle and he stepped out of the car. Back on campus and made his way back to his dorm and texted Annie to meet at his so they could talk about the party. Suddenly someone bumped his shoulder.

“Oh sorry I- oh hi,” he said realising it was Reiner with two other guys.

“Hi, what’s the fancy face paint?” Reiner asked him.

“Oh uh…well…I uh…this is nothing,” Bertholdt said rather embarrassed as the two other guys gave him bewildered looks.

“Really, you go around like that often?”

“No, it’s just…my mum’s back in town after being away for work and well…she’s a big David Bowie fan,” oh God this was embarrassing, the cute library guy and his friends seeing him in blue and silver face paint.

“Right, well see you,” Reiner smiled at him and walked away and Bertholdt lowered his head and walked quickly back to his dorm. Well this was one for the books, no way was he mentioning this to anyone.

* * *

 

Back in his dorm room, Bertholdt’s dorm mate Levi Ackerman was sitting at his desk on his computer.

“Hey man,” Levi said hearing the door open.

“Hi Levi.”

“What is that on your face?” Levi asked turning to him.

“Face paint,” Bertholdt replied.

“I’m not going to ask why,” Levi said and turned back to his computer.

“Thank you, by the way Annie’s coming over in twenty minutes to hang out,” Bertholdt told him as he sat down on his bed.

“Thanks for the warning, by the way I used the last of the duster refills while you were out, can you add it to the list?”

“Can do,” Bertholdt said getting his phone and pulling up a shopping list. One of the benefits of living with Levi was his rigorous cleaning, Bertholdt was a pretty neat person himself, so having someone else who was neat was a good thing. Levi was also the reason that the dorm kitchen, which they shared with two other people, was always passing the residential inspection every month. It was four people to a dorm, with two large bedrooms for two people, a kitchen and bathroom, and their dorm was probably the cleanest thanks to Levi.

“Also I heard from Eren there’s a party this weekend, are you going?” Levi asked him.

“I have to, Annie’s setting me up do you think Eren and Armin would oppose me bringing my violin to perform?” Bertholdt asked him.

“I’ve heard you play, if you’re going to perform at least charge everyone beforehand so you can make some money out of it,” Levi commented. Bertholdt knew he was kidding, although Levi used unconventional methods to earn money without a job, one of which was cleaning the other dorms for five dollars an hour and using it as a way to earn extra credit in his business degree. Bertholdt sat on his bed and opened up his laptop, checking his emails and setting practice hours for his violin and dancing. Twenty minutes went by silently before there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” Bertholdt called out.

“Alright three Titans walk into the wall, the tallest Titan kicks the wall in and everybody on the other side dies,” Annie said walking into the room.

“That’s a terrible joke,” Levi said.

“I never said it was a joke Dracula, what is that on your face?” Annie asked spotting Bertholdt’s face paint.

“I’m Ziggy freaking Stardust Annie, found me a date for the party yet?” Bertholdt retorted.

“Nope still looking, although if you wear that I don’t think you’ll have any trouble coming out to them,” Annie replied sitting on the bed.

“I’m going to leave now, if I stay in a room with her too long I fear she’ll suck the air out of my lungs and suffocate me,” Levi said shutting his computer down and standing up.

“Well don’t stay out in the sun too long or you’ll burst into flames,” Annie said to Levi as he left. Levi slammed the door and Annie laughed, Bertholdt didn’t exactly know why she and Levi didn’t get on, but whenever they were in a room together it would devolve into them making snide comments at each other.

“Why do you two hate each other so much?” Bertholdt asked her.

“We don’t, it’s just our way of getting along,” Annie replied. He could believe that, they were never outright rude to each other.


	3. Master Of Tides

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bertholdt agrees to be Ymir's model for a project.

The next morning, Bertholdt met up with Krista and Ymir by the fountain with his violin. Somehow he had agreed to let Ymir take a series of photos of him dancing and playing his violin in front of the fountain as part of her project.

“Morning Bertholdt,” Krista said waving her hand excitedly at him as he walked over to the set up.

“Morning Krista, Ymir, alright I’m here, I have my amp and electric violin, and I’m dressed exactly as you requested,” he said pointing down to the faux leather trousers Ymir had brought over that morning. He was also wearing a plain white shirt with a pair of black converse shoes, as per her request so that he resembled some strange Marlon Brando impersonator.

“You look great Bert, I told security I was going to be working here and my professor will be dropping by in half an hour to check on the progress,” Ymir said setting up her cameras.

“How long is this going to take?” Bertholdt asked her as he placed down his wireless amp and plugged it into the portable charger.

“About two hours, there’s set up and I need you to perform at least three different songs with different move sets, oh and you and Krista will be dance models for the duo shots,” Ymir explained.

“Duo shots?”

“Yes, I also need photographs of at least two or more people as part of the project,” Ymir said.

“Great, alright where do you want me?” Bertholdt said.

“Almost set up, just take off your shoes and get into the fountain,” Ymir said. Bertholdt did as she asked and picked up his violin, he plugged in the wireless connector to the amp and climbed onto the edge of the fountain onto the metal grating, that kept people from throwing pennies in, and began to check the tuning. It was sounding good, but now he needed the backup music.

“Krista, in my bag is my iPod and dock speakers, can you find the Prism instrumental on there and set it up,” Bertholdt asked her as he adjusted the sound on the violin so the amp could project the sound properly.

“Alright, we’re good to go, just get the music started and I’ll start taking pictures,” Ymir said as she wiped the camera lens with a cloth. Some of the students had gathered to witness this very strange event going on by the fountain. As Bertholdt started dancing to the music and playing the violin, Ymir began taking photos, her camera set up on a tripod was doing a time-lapse photo’s as she used her other camera to take photos from various angles. More people were showing up watching Bertholdt performing on the fountain. Once the song had ended, the bystanders watching were all applauding him and he spied Reiner and his friends watching him. Bertholdt tried to avoid looking at him as Ymir finished her next set up and Krista was ready with the next song.

“Alright Bertholdt, let me see those hips shaking for this next one, oh and this time you have to take the shirt off,” she said.

“In front of everyone!” Bertholdt said.

“If you want me to help make your first music video, you take that shirt off,” Ymir said. Bertholdt sighed, Reiner hadn’t moved and was very keen on staying for the show.

“Fine, Krista hold my violin,” he said handing the instrument and bow to Krista. He pulled off the shirt and threw it to the ground which prompted a few whistles and comments from the people watching. Make that the third embarrassing moment in a row Reiner had witnessed, Bertholdt thought to himself as he took the violin back from Krista. He was lucky he had the ability to perform instilled in him thanks to his mother.

“Alright, let’s get started,” Ymir called out as Krista pressed play on the docking station and Master of Tides began to play. As he performed both Ymir’s professor and Miss Eder approached the set up to watch him, as he danced he could still see Reiner and his friends watching him, didn’t they something better to do? As he finished the last note and posed for the final picture, Miss Eder clapped energetically.

“Wonderful Bertholdt, simply wonderful, you moved as if you were the water itself,” she said as Bertholdt stepped out of the fountain.

“Alright, put your shirt back and let’s take a break while I talk to my professor,” Ymir said as she took out her memory card which was nearly full. Bertholdt set his violin back in its case and put his shirt on. As he turned to go to his bag and get his phone, he saw Reiner approaching.

“Well aren’t you a regular Gene Kelly,” Reiner said.

“Thank you?” Bertholdt said slightly confused.

“I mean it as a good thing, you dance really well, let me guess, gymnastics and track,” he said.

“Uh yeah…how did you know?”

“I can tell these kind of things, the flexibility of your body suggests gymnastics while your footwork says track and field,” Reiner explained. He was cute and smart, was he even his type? Bertholdt wondered.

“Pretty accurate, but you’re missing the obvious and that’s dance,” Bertholdt added.

“True, well I have to go, just wanted to let you know I enjoyed your little show up there,” Reiner then stopped and stared at Bertholdt for a few moments. “You’re an interesting one, Bertholdt,” he said and then turned to leave with his friends. Bertholdt could feel his heart pounding a little.

“Oh boy,” he whispered.

“Oh my God was that him?” Krista asked, suddenly appearing beside him.

“Yeah, that’s Reiner Braun,” Bertholdt replied.

“Is he…you know?”

“I don’t know, somehow I only manage to run into him at time’s that aren’t my best, from the library, to yesterday-.”

“What happened yesterday?” Krista inquired.

“Well I visited my mum yesterday and she saw I was feeling kind of down about my dates, so she painted my face with the Ziggy Stardust lightning bolt, it’s her way of cheering me up, anyway I still had it on my face when I returned to campus and Reiner saw it,” Bertholdt told her.

“Oh I bet you looked cool,” Krista assured him.

“I felt like a fool,” he told her.

“Bertholdt, your performance up there has given me an idea for your costume for the benefit, mermaid, we use make-up to make you look like a beautiful merman,” Miss Eder told him.

“You want me to be a merman for the benefit?” he asked.

“Yes, it’ll be perfect, leather trousers in a mix of turquoise and blue dyes with glitter and sequined scales, it’ll be wonderful, you will be alluring, seductive and you will draw the crowd in like a siren drawing in a sailor to his death,” Miss Eder said with such enthusiasm.

“That sounds…interesting,” was all Bertholdt could muster, dressed like a merman in front of business men, politicians, university officials and most of the student body, it was awkward enough just being Ymir’s model for this shoot.

“I have to go teach a class but remember what I told you, your violin is an extension of yourself,” she said trailed away like she was dancing herself. He chuckled a little at her and went over to the iPod dock and looked through his music. He then found a song that he and Krista had used in last semesters dance class.

“Hey Krista, let’s use Brand New Moves by Hey Violet, we can do that routine we made,” he suggested to her.

“Oh I loved that routine, we did so well that semester,” Krista replied.

“If you have a dance, let’s capture it, I’m all set,” Ymir said as her professor stood by observing. “Now let’s see these ‘brand new moves’ as you called it.” Krista giggled at the pun and she and Bertholdt climbed onto the fountain, as the music started they began the routine. As they danced, Bertholdt could see someone filming them, he looked familiar, had he been with Reiner yesterday when they ran into each other?

 

* * *

 

 

The rest of the photoshoot went by with ease and Ymir’s professor was pleased with her set up and execution. After his music theory class, Bertholdt went back to his dorm to change into his gym clothes and get in some running and weights. As he packed his iPod and phone, Levi walked in and threw a bunch of money into the air.

“Guess who just made one hundred and fifty dollars cleaning the Dean’s office,” he said proudly.

“The Dean paid you to clean his office?”

“Yep, place was filthy when you got a close look at it, I cleaned everything from the trophies to the individual books in his bookcase,” Levi answered as he picked up his money and put it into his wallet.

“What are you planning to do with your money?” Bertholdt wondered.

“Log it in my books and then buy booze and popcorn and binge watch Friends,” Levi said. Bertholdt nodded at his answer and went to the door and opened it.

“I’m off to the gym, later,” he said and closed it.

 

* * *

 

 

Down at the gym someone had put on an Ed Sheeren playlist and there were several people by the weights. Bertholdt headed to one of the treadmills and put in his iPod, time for some heavy metal, he thought as he turned on In This Moment’s album Ritual. As he started on a light run as Black Wedding began to play, he saw Reiner walk in with some of his friends including the one who had been filming him. He ignored Reiner’s presence and focused on the music in his ears. He glanced at Reiner who was staring at him and he watched the blond walk over to the weights which were in line of sight of the treadmills.

“What is he doing?” Bertholdt mumbled to himself as he upped the speed to match the tempo of the song. He picked up speed as he tried to look anywhere other than Reiner, but it was proving difficult. The friend that had filmed him then pulled out his phone and began to show it to Reiner, this got his attention and he would glance at the phone and then Bertholdt periodically. Reiner had already seen him dancing and without his shirt on, so he wasn’t sure why this was bothering him. The song changed to Witching Hour and he changed the speed again. Suddenly he saw Reiner walking over to him, he pulled out his ear buds, the music still being heard slightly.

“He dances, he plays the violin, he probably sings and now he also works out, tell me Bertholdt is there anything you can’t do?” Reiner asked him.

“I can’t cook, my roommates can attest to that,” Bertholdt replied.

“An interesting flaw, well enjoy your workout,” Reiner said and turned away to go backs to the weights. Bertholdt couldn’t figure him out, he couldn’t understand his deal, nor why whenever he was in proximity to Reiner, the guy would always have something to say and in such a smooth tone.


	4. Can’t Avoid The Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren and Armin's party arrives and Bertholdt tells a rather humiliating story.

Bertholdt didn’t see Reiner for the rest of the week. He was quite relieved that no other embarrassing situations had cropped up as well, but he was slightly disappointed that he hadn’t seen Reiner at all.  
That Saturday as the evening approached for Armin and Eren’s party, Annie paid Bertholdt a visit whilst he got ready.

“I found you a date, you’re going to love him,” she said as Bertholdt stood staring at two shirts that were laid out on his bed.

“You found a guy, what’s he like?” he asked her.

“He’s an old friend from high school, thought I lost contact until he transferred here, he’s a football player, does a lot of working out,” Annie told him.

“And what did you tell him about me?” Bertholdt wondered.

“I didn’t give him your name, I want to leave that until the party, but I told you’re a performer with legs for days,” Annie replied.

“Always with the legs and while you’re here which shirt, black button down or white with the black waistcoat?” he asked her.

“White and waistcoat, you look good in waistcoats,” Annie said. He picked up the black shirt and put it back into his wardrobe and got out his black waistcoat. “You get ready I’ll wait outside.” Annie closed the door behind her as Bertholdt removed his Stone Sour shirt and picked up the white shirt, as he buttoned it up, he wondered just who his mystery date was going to be and which member of the football team it was.

Once he had dressed he knocked on the door so that Annie could come back in. She gave his outfit a look over and nodded in approval.

“I think he’ll like it, also you’re not just going to be playing your violin tonight, I told Armin you’d sing for everyone too,” she said. Bertholdt sighed and picked up his violin case.

“Why would you tell him that?” he asked her as they left the dorm.

“Well, I know mystery date would probably like it, I didn’t tell him about the bi thing, figured that would be better if you mentioned it,” Annie replied.

“How considerate,” Bertholdt said with sarcasm as they walked towards the exit of the dorm building towards where Eren and Armin lived.

 

* * *

 

 

Bertholdt and Annie reached Armin and Eren’s dorm where Ymir, Krista, Levi, Sasha, and Connie already were, a case of beer was already open. Bertholdt grimaced at the brand Budweiser, he hated beer he was more of a whiskey and rum man.

“Berty you made it!” Ymir cried out.

“You only call me that when you’re happy, what happened?” Bertholdt as she threw her arms around him and lifted herself off the ground.

“Thanks to you, my professor loved the shoot we did, I have to show you the final spread because it’s going to be featured at the benefit,” she told him as she let go of him.

“Isn’t it exciting Bertholdt,” Krista said her eyes wide with pride for her girlfriend, to be in the benefit in person and in photographs was a big accomplishment for her, perfect if she wanted to become a professional dancer.

“Yeah, so I guess we’re celebrating in style, please tell me there is something stronger than that watered down filth you call beer,” Bertholdt said.

“I have whiskey, rum, and bourbon, I also owe my brother about a hundred bucks now,” Eren said as he went to the kitchen counter where four large bottle sat next to at least six large bottles of regular and diet coke.

“Zeke bought those?” Annie asked him.

“Yep,” Eren replied. Bertholdt had met Zeke before when Eren was his dorm mate in freshmen year and was helping him move his stuff in. Zeke was a rather laid back sort of person, although he took his security job very seriously.

“Hey Armin, where should I keep my violin, I don’t want Jean or Marco to find it and ask me to play the Devil Went Down to Georgia,” Bertholdt asked Armin.

“I’ll hide it in my room,” he replied taking the violin from Bertholdt and going into his dorm room with it, he returned to the living area and sat down besides Annie on the sofa. “I’ll bring it out when it’s time for the performance, also what are you going to sing?”

“I have no idea yet, Annie sprung the news on me suddenly.” Armin was about to reply when the door burst open.

“Party time boys!” Jean yelled as he, Marco, and the football team all waltzed in through the door, along with some extra stragglers who’d all had pre-drinks beforehand. Levi then leaned into Eren.

“For fifty dollars I can have this place spotless tomorrow,” he offered.

 

* * *

 

 

As the party got into full swing, Annie searched around for Bertholdt’s date who it seemed was running late. After a half hour of phone checking, she thought all hope was lost until a big pair of arms hoisted her into the air.

“Lion!” a voice cried out as her legs kicked the air and she laughed and turned as far as she could to see Reiner holding her up.

“Bear?”

“You know it, Tiger couldn’t make it, he got stuck babysitting, how the hell are you Annie,” Reiner asked as he set her down.

“I’ve been fantastic, how have you been, I heard about the divorce,” she replied.

“My dad was a grade-A asshole, I’m glad mum finally ditched his ass, now enough about that where is man with the legs for days you promised me,” Reiner said.

“He’s this way.” She led Reiner over to the kitchen area where Bertholdt was sitting on the counter holding the bottle of Captain Morgan above his where Krista couldn’t reach it.

“Come on Bert, I want to have some Morgan,” she whined as she failed to reach the height of his arm.

“Krista, I promised Ymir I wouldn’t let you drink any Morgan, you know how rum makes you, you get all clingy and weepy,” he told her. She sighed and stopped jumping,

“Fine, but you can’t stop me drinking the Malibu,” she said grabbing the bottle of Malibu and running. He couldn’t stop her, but that meant more Captain Morgan for him, he lowered the bottle and opened it to pour a shot into his cup, he then put the rum bottle down and reached for the coke bottle to fill his cup.

“Bertholdt, I found mystery date, Reiner meet my friend Bertholdt, Bertholdt this is Reiner, my old buddy from high school,” she said. Bertholdt stared at Reiner quite surprised, his date was Reiner. He put the coke bottle down and pushed it away from him carefully.

“Reiner, uh…nice to see you again,” he said rather nervously as he took a sip of his drink.

“The Gene Kelly, I haven’t seen you since the gym,” Reiner said.

“You’ve met each other already?” Annie asked confused.

“In the library, when he had that face paint on, his performance at the fountain on Wednesday and the gym later that same day,” Reiner explained.

“I wish you’d told me earlier, would have saved me the trouble,” Annie said.

“It’s no trouble Annie,” Bertholdt said, she had done well this time.

“Well I’ll leave you two be, I’ll talk you to later Bear,” she said.

“Sure thing Lion,” Reiner replied as she went back to Armin.

“Lion, Bear?” Bertholdt said confused at the nicknames.

“Yeah, it was a high school thing, our friend Marcel was also called Tiger, terrible nicknames but that’s what happens you join the drama club for extra credit and believe me it wasn’t my first choice,” Reiner explained.

“I can believe it,” Bertholdt said, guy like Reiner seemed more into sports than the arts, which made the Gene Kelly comment from him slightly unconventional. “Anyway, what made you want to come to this place, was your last university terrible?”

“No, I wanted to come here originally, but I didn’t have the right scores, so I went to community college and played on the team for a year and got enough credits to transfer and do Sports Science here, thank God the quarterback here threw his back out trying to get action in a goddamn electric car,” Reiner explained. Bertholdt chuckled, he remembered that story.

“Oh yeah, never do it in a car.”

“You got that right, anyway what’s your story, Annie didn’t tell me much, only that you’re a performer,” Reiner said. Bertholdt nodded.

“Yeah, I play violin, I dance, I do sing too, I picked up the violin when I was about four, it’s difficult but I switched from classic to modern about seven years ago when I saw Lindsey Stirling on TV, I love her work,” he said.

“So when did the dancing come in then?”

“When I started high school, every winter before break they had a formal talent show and I was always the final act, it’s actually how I got here, they offered a music scholarship.”

“So talented, Annie also mentioned you had a deal, what did she mean?” Reiner asked him, Bertholdt froze for a moment, would Reiner be okay with him being Bi, or would he be like everyone else?

“Well uh you see, remember how that Sasha girl said we had a date thing?”

“Yeah,”

“Well that’s cause I date girls…and guys…I’m, I’m bisexual,” Bertholdt told Reiner, his voice lowering slightly.

“Oh.” That was it, oh, wasn’t there more he could say?

“You…you don’t have an issue with that do you?” Bertholdt asked him. Reiner shook his head rather nervously, running his hand through his hair.

“No, it’s cool, it’s good, at least you’re honest about it,” he replied. Bertholdt sighed with relief, thank God he was fine about it.

“Oh good, I was worried you’d be one of those guys, the ones who insist I’m-,”

“Berty, over here, Eren’s got us telling stories and I want you to tell one,” Ymir cried as she popped up suddenly beside Reiner.

“Do I have to?” Bertholdt asked.

“Yes, as your friend I demand you tell the spin the bottle story, you tell it better,” Ymir answered as she grabbed Bertholdt’s sleeve and forced him off the counter and over to the sofa’s. Reiner followed rather eagerly, Bertholdt knew he’d want to hear this story. “Alright he’s here, now Bertholdt tell the spin the bottle story.” Everyone leaned in as Bertholdt sat on the arm of the sofa, he downed his drink quickly and breathed out slowly.

“So it’s Ymir’s thirteenth birthday party and she decided that we should all play spin the bottle, so there’s twelve of us sitting in a circle, a mix of boys and girls, all nervous and excited to all play the kissing game,” Bertholdt began. “So Ymir spins first as she’s the birthday girl and it lands on Henry, she grimaces but goes ahead and gives him a peck anyway, then he spins, and after several rounds this boy Joseph spins, I had a slight crush on him at the time which really confused the hell out of me, so he spins the bottle and it lands on me.”

“This next bit’s good,” Ymir said. Bertholdt sighed, he never liked telling this part.

“So the bottle’s pointing towards me, everyone’s staring in awe to see if we’ll kiss or be forced to do a dare, so without fear I leap across the circle and just plant one on Joseph, the force sort of knocked him backwards so I fell on him, so everyone is shocked, he’s shocked, so I apologise get up and run upstairs and lock myself in the bathroom,” Bertholdt said.

“After he ran away, everyone’s looking at Joseph who sort of sits there dumbfounded, so naturally I have to fix the situation and I go to convince Bertholdt to come out of the bathroom, he was in there for half an hour worried everyone would think he's a freak,” Ymir added in.

“I was a confused thirteen year old who had his first kiss with a boy in a game of spin the bottle, you’d want to lock yourself in a bathroom too,” Bertholdt told her. Reiner chuckled to himself a little.

“I had my first kiss at fourteen, freshman year of high school and two of the sophomore’s decided to open up a kissing booth at our winter carnival to raise school funds, my friends dared me to kiss one of the guys, so I did, they didn’t want guys coming to the booth, they were using it to pick up girls, so I offered them double the asking price and they accepted,” Reiner said.

“I remember that, you picked the tall one, what did you say to him again?” Annie said.

“I said ‘I’ll kiss you for double and use tongue for triple,” Reiner said. Bertholdt laughed a little at Reiner’s story, it was certainly more entertaining than his was.

“Alright enough stories, I want to hear this music you promised me,” Eren declared.


	5. How Good It Feels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bertholdt performs for everyone and then in privacy tells Reiner a story about a car.

As soon as everyone had cleared the room and Bertholdt had made sure his violin was in tune, he stepped into the center of a large circle everyone had made, Armin pushed a Bluetooth receiver into the stereo and Bertholdt turned on the one in his violin.

“I should confess something before I begin,” Bertholdt began as he played several notes. “When I was learning the routine to this particular song, Miss Eder told me to dance as if I’m performing in a club, she never said what kind of club though, hit it Armin.”

Armin turned on the stereo and Bertholdt began to play Roundtable Rivals, at first he was still standing until the beat of the song kicked in and then he spun suddenly, bursting into dance the likes of which had everyone clapping to the beat. As he performed he would give subtle glances to Reiner, expressions which had Reiner looking quite impressed. Ymir whooped and Krista whistled as everyone watched Bertholdt spin and do intricate footwork that caused him to put emphasis into the movement of his hips. A lot of this was going to be put into his benefit performance, so he might as well have fun with it. As the song came to a harsh finish, Bertholdt finished in a strong pose holding his bow high above him. Everyone clapped and cheered as he took bows.

“That was amazing Bertholdt,” Connie said.

“Yeah, that was amazing,” Sasha repeated.

“Thank you, thank you,” Bertholdt said rather pleased with his performance, but also bashful of the fact that he had the confidence to start dancing provocatively.

“Nice, let’s hear you sing next,” Levi called out.

“Oh no, I’ve performed enough tonight,” Bertholdt said.

“Sing for us Berty, we all deserve it,” Ymir cried out.

“We don’t sing unless its karaoke night down at the union, I demand we drink and party,” Eren declared as he raised his beer in the air. The football team all cheered in unison. Armin turned on his iPod which began to play a mix of dance and pop music, Bertholdt went and put his violin in Armin’s room and was surprised to see Reiner follow him.

“Uh, hi,” he said.

“It’d be easier to talk away from the music, besides I did kind of want to hear you sing,” Reiner said. Bertholdt put his violin back into its case and sat down on the bed.

“I can sing but I don’t like singing, sometimes I get nervous and it just cracks from the pressure, I can be singing Baritone and it just drops like a rock,” he explained.

“Yeah, you seem more confident when it comes to dancing,” Reiner said.

“If you mess up the steps in dancing, you have enough training that you can bring it back, with singing, not so easy,” Bertholdt said. He loved singing, but only when no one else was around, he couldn’t bear the idea of singing in a crowd, playing his violin and dancing yes, but singing, no, not even when his high school did Phantom of the Opera, he refused to sing in front of people. Bertholdt slid the violin case under the bed as Reiner sat down beside him.

“Well, for what it’s worth you are an incredible dancer…with very nice abs might I add,” Reiner said rather bashfully. Bertholdt blushed at the thought.

“Thanks, well I’m gonna have to thank Annie for finally getting us into a room together to actually talk,” he said.

“That reminds me how did you meet Annie?”

“I met her at orientation, she was assigned to the dorm next door, we went out for coffee, then dinner, then dinner and a movie…but it just wasn’t working, she then met Armin at the record store I told her about and they started dating, Annie was always really cool with the Bi thing,” Bertholdt explained.

“Yeah…um, when did you know?” Reiner asked him.

“When I kissed Joseph at Ymir’s birthday party, when I was about seven, there was this girl named Daisy on our street, she was so sweet, I always gave her daisies to show how much I liked her and until I was thirteen I figured that was the way it was, I would like girls…and then Joseph transferred to our class and…I felt really weird, every time I looked at him I got this crush feeling but it was filled with anxiety as well. I didn’t know what to do, I asked Ymir what I should because she’s my best friend and I needed advice…and that’s why she had us play spin the bottle at her party, she said I should try and kiss him to see if I liked boys as well.”

“And what happened after you kissed him?”

“I realised I liked him a lot, more than Daisy, like girls were cute but boys were cuter, but I still liked girls, I had crushes on all the Disney Princesses…and Wolverine as well, Hugh Jackman is…Christ,” Bertholdt said. “I was confused for a while, I went to the school counsellor because I didn’t know what I was feeling, but she was nice about, she explained everything to me, that what I was had a name.”

“Bisexual.”

“Yep, I was lucky my mum was so supportive, my dad’s overseas a lot so I don’t know how he truly feels about it.”

“You’re lucky, my dad threatened me to kick me out when he found out I was gay, mum didn’t let him, it was a tense six years but she finally kicked his ass to the curb last year so I never have to see him again,” Reiner said.

“That must have sucked.”

“It did at first, but look at me, I’m a star quarterback at the school I wanted to go to, everything’s great,” Reiner told him with a smile.

“Yeah, well, if you want we can return to the party or if you’re in the mood for something else we can…stay and…stuff,” Bertholdt suggested nervously, he wanted to try and kiss Reiner but he had no idea how to go about it. Reiner then grabbed his sleeve.

“Not so fast, you said earlier never do it in a car, what were you implying?” he asked him.

“Oh um well…I uh, I don’t know if I should tell you,” Bertholdt said slightly embarrassed.

“No, please, I love a good story,” Reiner said.

“Oh alright, but it’s a pretty dirty story, I’ve never even told Ymir this story,” he said.

“All the more reason to tell me, you never know, might stir a little electricity,” Reiner said. He was aroused, Bertholdt could tell, the dilation in his eyes, his hand pressed down on his jeans, the mention of a dirty story involving a car had Reiner eager.

“Alright, well…fun fact, turned out Joseph was gay, we ended up dating for three years, and right after we both turned sixteen his parents bought him a car, so we took it out to the old drive-in, now it’s just a place for people to go make out after their dates, so we’re all alone, it’s night and we’re both in the back of his car getting pretty heated,” Bertholdt began.

“How heated?”

“Fogged up windows heated, we’d reached a point where we didn’t have shirts on and being the lanky person I am, were in a pretty contorted position on the leather seats, so Joseph then pulls out a condom, I knew what he was implying so I asked ‘who’s it for’ and he says ‘you big boy’.”

“Big boy?” Reiner asked quite surprised as he gave Bertholdt a look over.

“Yep, big boy, for more reasons than one,” Bertholdt admitted. “So we’re there in this Mercedes I’m struggling as all hell just to get my jeans off, of course I’m terrified because it’s my first time and then just as I finally get those jeans off…a police officer shows up.”

“You got caught by a cop!” Reiner exclaimed.

“Yep…he just saw me lying on the seats in my underwear and Joseph on top of me with one leg in his jeans and he just…smiles, waves and then walks away,” Bertholdt said.

“Wouldn’t you have been arrested for public sex?” Reiner asked.

“Well yeah, were we actually in the middle of sex, that officer just saw two awkward teenage boys in the back of a car half dressed, also there were three other cars in that drive-in all, we were the only male couple there.”

“So what happened after the cop left?” Reiner asked.

“I fucked Joseph,” Bertholdt said.

“That’s not very erotic,” Reiner pointed out.

“It wasn’t erotic, it was hot, sticky, messy and pretty amazing too, but never again because my joints ached for a week,” Bertholdt told him. Reiner nodded in agreement at his point.

“I guess you’re right, I did it the boring way, in a bed…although…no you wouldn’t be interested,” Reiner said leaning away from Bertholdt, now this had him curious, Reiner who had hung onto every word in his story was pulling away.

“What?”

“No, it’s juvenile,” Reiner insisted. Bertholdt grabbed Reiner’s sleeve, he needed to know now.

“Please, I just told you how I lost my virginity, how bad could it be?”

“Pretty bad, you wouldn’t care for that kind of story unless…” Reiner trailed off.

“Unless what?” Bertholdt asked. Reiner then suddenly turned back to Bertholdt and kissed him suddenly.

“I’ll tell you, if you give me a blow job,” he said to Bertholdt leaving him a little stunned.


	6. To Be A Fool

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reiner pushes the limits and Bertholdt runs.

Bertholdt didn’t know what to say or think, here was this gorgeous guy who just kissed him and then outright asked for a blowjob.

“You want, uh…I, I mean you uh…what?” Bertholdt stammered.

“I want you, to get down on your knees and suck my dick, do this and I’ll tell you the story,” Reiner told him.

“That seems a little excessive for a simple story, I mean…I don’t know what you might think but…I’m not one to do that after just meeting someone,” Bertholdt said.

“Well if you don’t want to, I could give you one, I saw the way you were looking at me during your little performance, you want this,” Reiner said.

“Well…I mean…oh God I can’t breathe,” Bertholdt said feeling panic in his chest, why did he have to ask for that?

“Take it easy, you don’t have to do anything, I should have guessed you’re not the kind of guy who goes in straight away, at least let me do something for you, you seem tense,” Reiner said as he slowly ran his hand up Bertholdt’s thigh.

“Well I uh…you see I’m…I don’t…” Bertholdt said as he moved away from Reiner. This was too much, Annie had failed once again. “I have to go,” he said pushing Reiner away from him and running out of Armin’s room.

Bertholdt ran out of the party and out of the building, Annie and Ymir followed after him after seeing Reiner come out of the bedroom rather shamefully.

“Bertholdt, Bertholdt what happened?” Annie cried as she saw him at the end of the corridor leaning against the wall

“Oh God I’m an idiot,” he said.

“Bert are you okay, what did he do?” Ymir asked.

“I shouldn’t have told him that car story, now he probably thinks I’m some kind of…slut,” Bertholdt said to himself.

“Did he try something?” Annie asked.

“He asked me for a goddamn blowjob and when I refused he then suggested giving one to me, but when I tried to tell him no, he kept insisting so I had to get out of there,” Bertholdt told her. “God I’m so stupid, why did I let myself be suckered in by his good looks.”

“Hey do you want me to take you back to your dorm,” Ymir offered.

“Please,” Bertholdt replied.

“I’ll handle this, Annie you talk to that friend of yours,” Ymir told Annie as she began to walk Bertholdt out of the building. Annie turned with an angry look and stormed down to the corridor to see Reiner.

“What did I tell you, I told you that’s not like any of the guys you normally bang,” she said to him sternly.

“I’m sorry I got carried away, I could tell he was into me after that story, I jumped the gun too fast,” Reiner replied defensively.

“He’s think you think he’s some sort of easy lay because of what you did,” Annie told him.

“I don’t think that, I think he’s great, shit I should go apologise,” Reiner said.

“No don’t, do it tomorrow,” Annie said. Reiner sighed and they both went back into the party, he went back into Armin’s room to see Bertholdt’s jacket and his violin. He picked up the jacket and the violin and left the party with them, he’d find out where Bertholdt lives tomorrow and return them, it would be the least he could do.

 

* * *

 

Back in Bertholdt’s dorm he and Ymir were sat on his bed talking. Bertholdt told her everything, from telling Reiner the car story to running out of the room after Reiner’s proposition.

“I don’t give off that sort of vibe do I?” Bertholdt asked her.

“No of course not, you’re a total sweetheart, Reiner’s just one of those men who thinks he’s God’s gift and that any guy who wants him would do what he asks,” Ymir commented.

“You think so, he always seemed so nice whenever we ran into each other, I thought he’d never be interested in me,” Bertholdt said.

“Bertholdt you did nothing wrong, you were just being friendly, he got it the wrong way,” Ymir insisted.

“And I just ran out there and- oh no I left my violin there,” Bertholdt said realising he hadn’t taken it when he left. “And my jacket too.”

“Easy Bert, you can get it tomorrow, the night’s still early do you want to hang back and watch something on Netflix?” Ymir asked him. Bertholdt nodded.

“Yeah, Netflix sounds good,” he agreed.

Bertholdt and Ymir spent the rest of the night watching Rick and Morty on Netflix, around eleven Krista arrived crying and cradling the empty Malibu bottle. They called it a night and Ymir took Krista back to her dorm for coffee and crackers to sober her up and stop the crying. Bertholdt went to bed, still feeling like an idiot over what happened with Reiner. When morning rolled around Levi hadn’t returned meaning he had stayed over with Eren and would be cleaning their flat for the next six hours and hopefully he would bring Bertholdt’s violin and jacket back. Bertholdt sat in the kitchen drinking coffee and watching more Rick and Morty on his laptop. Sunday, normally he would be going to the gym and doing errands, but he didn’t feel like it this day, today he just wanted to stay in.

 

* * *

 

A knock at the door took his attention and he out down his mug and walked over to the door. He opened it to see Reiner, holding his jacket and violin.

“Oh, hi,” Bertholdt said rather quietly.

“I came to apologise and to give you these, Levi gave me the dorm number. I’m sorry about last night I misread things and got the wrong impression, can we start over?” Reiner asked him as he handed over to the violin and jacket.

“I…I guess, come on in, do you want coffee?” Bertholdt said.

“Black please,” Reiner replied as he closed the door. Bertholdt dropped his violin and jacket on the sofa and went over to the counter and poured out some still fresh coffee into a Starbucks mug for Reiner.

“You know I felt like such an idiot last night, somehow I convinced myself it was my fault,” Bertholdt told him as he pushed the mug forward and paused Rick and Morty.

“It wasn’t your fault, you said no and I didn’t listen, you were smart to run,” Reiner said.

“I guess, you know Ymir called you one of those guys who thinks they’re God’s gift,” Bertholdt told him.

“Well she’s not wrong,” Reiner admitted.

“So you do think you’re God’s gift,” Bertholdt said.

“I won’t say I’m not God’s gift, but look at me,” Reiner said showing off his body. Bertholdt had to agree with him, as egotistical as he sounded. “Anyway, I’m sorry and I’d like to make it up to you, how about I take you out tomorrow, I have practice until six but after that I’m free.” It was a tempting offer and Bertholdt would like to spend more time with Reiner, even if it was only so that Reiner could redeem himself after his stunt.

“Sure, my dance lesson finishes at six anyway,” Bertholdt agreed.

“Great, now, what are you watching on your laptop?” Reiner asked as he tried to peer over the screen.

“Rick and Morty, I’m a fan,” Bertholdt replied as he un-paused the video to have Rick explode from turning a screw. “Rick Potion number nine, it’s a good one.” Reiner slid over to the counter and leaned beside Bertholdt as they watched the end of the episode and watched the next one.

By the time they had reached the first episode of Season three, Levi came in through the door holding cash.

“Two things happened last night, one, Eren finally asked me out on a date, so that’s a thing, and two, Armin agreed to pay me fifty dollars for cleaning their dorm so that’s now spotless and I got more extra credit,” Levi told them as he put the money into a mason jar labelled ‘EXTRA CREDIT.’

“Extra credit?” Reiner wondered.

“Levi has a campus cleaning service, students pay him to clean their dorms for inspections and such and the university counts it as extra credit towards his degree, he got the Dean to pay him to clean his office,” Bertholdt explained.

“Isn’t that morally wrong?”

“Well his grades haven’t miraculously improved, so no,” Bertholdt pointed out. Reiner then looked at his watch and set his mug down.

“Well I better get going, I have a thing, see you tomorrow,” he said heading over to the door.

“Yeah bye,” Bertholdt said as Reiner closed the door behind him.

“Well, after last night I didn’t expect him to be here,” Levi pointed out as he sat on the sofa.

“He brought my jacket and violin back and apologised, which is worth something.”

“If you say so,” Levi muttered. Bertholdt knew he was being too quick to forgive Reiner, but he seemed genuinely sorry about what happened and he wasn’t going to write him off so quickly and wait for the next setup.


	7. Blue Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bertholdt and Reiner go out for an 'unofficial' first date.

The next evening after his dance lesson Bertholdt found himself waiting at the on-campus Starbucks for Reiner. His lesson had gone well as everyone was now getting more information on their benefit performances and Bertholdt received news that he was going to have back-up dancers for his headline act, when he asked who Miss Eder told him she was going to get them from the performing arts school who were also performing in the benefit. He saw Reiner approaching him, looking slightly soaked.

  
“Hey, sorry I’m late, needed to shower after practice and didn’t have time to dry off,” he told Bertholdt. Bertholdt could see his abs through his shirt that stuck to him, he clearly worked out a lot to maintain that six pack.

 

“No worries, I was also running a bit behind, my dance teacher said she’s finding me back-up dancers for the benefit, I have to be dressed up in sequins and leather and perform my best song with a new original dance and three people dancing around me, I fear it’ll be chaos on the night,” he told Reiner as he headed off campus.

  
“How so?”

 

“Well there’s the dinner, the art show, the auction and the performances, Ymir and the other chosen photography students will have their work showcased, half the culinary classes are preparing the dinner, the auction’s going to raise a lot of money and the performing art class will be putting on a show and I am the headline act because I can dance and play the violin at the same time,” Bertholdt explained.

 

“So how do you get into the benefit as a student if you’re not performing, showing off work or cooking?” Reiner wondered.

  
“You become a Cater Waiter for extra credit,” he said. “Annie’s being a Cater Waiter, I bet if you talk to her she could get you on the staff.”

 

“To see you perform, I’ll serve food to rich elitists,” Reiner said.

  
“Really, I can’t really picture you in a waiter uniform,” Bertholdt said.

 

“Oh that’ll change,” Reiner assured him. Bertholdt shrugged it off and they left camps and wandered down into town.

 

* * *

 

 

They ended up at a small diner that played old music from the fifties and decided to have food there. The waitresses were dressed in poodle skirts with neckerchiefs and all the men were dressed like they auditioning for A Streetcar Named Desire. Bertholdt liked the place, the food was good and the music was fun to listen to.

 

“What’ll it be boys?” their waitress Dallas asked them.

 

“I have the double cheeseburger with fries, no burger sauce, and a chocolate milkshake,” Bertholdt said to the waitress.

 

“And you?” she asked Reiner who was still reading.

  
“Uh…double cheese burger, fries, chilli cheese hotdog, coke and onion rings,” he said.

  
“Alright,” Dallas said writing it all down and then rollerblading away. The music on the jukebox changed to Blue Moon by Frank Sinatra, which got Bertholdt’s fingers tapping.

  
“Blue Moon, you saw me standing alone, without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own,” he sang softly, but loud enough so only Reiner could hear. “Blue Moon, you knew just what I was there for, you hear me saying a prayer for, someone I really could care for.”  


“I thought you didn’t sing,” Reiner said.

  
“I don’t to a crowd, here though, no one can really hear you sing along to the jukebox,” he explained.

  
“Well you don’t sound too bad, you truly are Gene Kelly,” Reiner said. Bertholdt tilted his head sideways and gave the blond a confused look.

 

“There you go again with the Gene Kelly comparison,” he said. Reiner laughed a little and leaned on his hand.

  
“I’m sorry, you just look so much like him,” he said. Now Bertholdt really was confused, no one had ever made that comparison before, to hear it from Reiner was truly puzzling. He was about to respond when Dallas arrived with their drinks.

  
“Food will be along shortly boys,” she said setting their drinks down and then blading away again. The jukebox then changed to Earth Angel by The Crew Cuts and the door opened to see Ymir and Krista walking through. Bertholdt waved at them and Krista waved back with a wide grin.

 

“Friends of yours?” Reiner asked.

  
“Best friends, I’ve known Ymir for years and I met Krista last year, I don’t want to say I introduced them…but I totally did introduce them,” Bertholdt said. Reiner waved at the two of them, but was met with a rather mean stare from Ymir before they both took the booth near the door.

 

“I don’t think the tall one likes me,” Reiner observed. Bertholdt chuckled and took a sip on his milkshake. “Although I can guess why.” Soon Dallas arrived with their food, Bertholdt’s dinner seemed small compared to Reiner’s feast, to the point that Bertholdt immediately asked Dallas if he could get some onion rings and cheesy garlic bread. Their dinner went by surprisingly well, they chatted about Reiner’s major, how he came to be a football player and the one time he got to go to the Super Bowl.

 

“So what about you Bertholdt, what’s your best holiday?” Reiner asked as he picked his plate clean.

 

“Japan, about seven years ago, mum had to meet with Nintendo to discuss the Nintendo 3DS and 2DS that they were in the middle of developing, something about the patent and the tech they were using for it. It was going to be a week-long trip, so she brought me along and made it a holiday as well, I spent most of it by myself while she did meetings, she trusted me enough to go do the things I wanted to do by myself and in the evenings we would have dinner and go and visit any night markets, it also helped that we went just as one of their festivals was beginning,” he told Reiner as he finished up his second milkshake.

 

“Nice, do you know much Japanese?”

  
“A little but not enough to be fluent,” Bertholdt replied as Dallas walked over.

 

“You boys all finished up here or would you like to see the Dessert menu?” she asked them.

 

“Do you have any of that really nice salted caramel cheesecake?” Bertholdt asked.

  
“Sure do sweetheart, what about you, dessert menu?”

  
“I’ll take some of the cheesecake too,” Reiner answered.

  
“Good choice boys,” Dallas said and cleared up their plates. Bertholdt had a much better impression of Reiner now than he did at the party, he wasn’t too bad and was actually nice when not trying to show off. When their cheesecakes arrived, Reiner’s was gone in less than a minute whilst Bertholdt had only eaten half of his, he wanted to make a witty remark but couldn’t think of anything original that wasn’t from a TV show. Reiner already asked for the cheque by the time Bertholdt finished his slice of cheesecake.

 

“How much do you tip here?” Reiner asked him as he pulled out his wallet and counted his cash.

  
“Ten percent of the bill doubled,” he said. Reiner placed down his card for the bill and pulled out a ten and a five.

 

“You think fifteen will cover it?”

  
“I think so,” Bertholdt said getting out of his seat. As much as he loved this diner, he hated how little leg room the booths had. Dallas rolled on over with the card machine and picked up the fifteen dollars.

 

“I assume this is for me?” she asked him as he swiped the card.

 

“You were excellent,” Reiner said with a smile, she laughed and pocketed the cash.

 

“Well aren’t you a charmer, you be careful with this one Hoover,” she warned Bertholdt.

 

“You don’t need to tell me twice,” he said with a chuckle.

 

“Well tell your mother I said hello,” Dallas said handing Reiner his receipt and leaving with the card machine. Reiner got out of his seat put his wallet back into his jeans.

  
“You know her?”

 

“Everyone knows me here,” Bertholdt said as they left the diner.

 

* * *

 

 

They walked back to campus and saw the evening had drawn in, Bertholdt could already see the Halloween decorations already going up in some of the businesses and houses. He already a Halloween costume planned for the student union party dressing up as Ezio Auditore da Firenze from the second Assassin’s Creed game, a request from Annie after they played the game together. When they finally reached Bertholdt’s dorm room, there was an awkward pause, should he invite Reiner in or just say goodnight?

 

“So…uh…do you want to come in and watch some Netflix, I checked ahead and Levi is out,” Bertholdt said.

  
“Sure, my dorm mate’s probably still with his ‘date’ in our dorm,” Reiner said with air quotes at the word date. Bertholdt didn’t question it and opened the door, he turned on the light and threw his keys into the bowl by the door. Reiner went and sat down on the sofa and Bertholdt turned on the television. He put on Netflix and three profiles came up: Bertholdt, Levi, and Annie Is A Freeloader. Reiner laughed at the profile name as Bertholdt sat down beside him and kicked off his shoes.

 

“She mooches off your Netflix account?”

 

“No I gave her the password, Levi just changed her profile name and it stuck, what should we watch?” Bertholdt said as he flicked through the options.

  
“What were you watching recently?” Reiner asked. Berthold flicked to Continue Watching to see How I Met Your Mother on there.

  
“The show’s great but they screwed up the ending big time,” Bertholdt said.

  
“Totally sucked,” Reiner agreed. “I think we should watch Buffy.”

 

“Sure thing, I wanted to watch it again anyway, love that show,” Bertholdt said flicking over to Buffy and pressing play.

 

* * *

 

 

When Levi returned it was roughly eleven o’clock and Bertholdt and Reiner were still on the sofa watching Buffy, discussing what they’d do if they were Slayers. He threw his keys into the bowl and said he was going to bed to which Bertholdt acknowledged and turned down the TV slightly.

 

“What time is it?” Reiner asked. Bertholdt picked up his phone and pressed the home button.

  
“Eleven, we should probably wind down and say goodbye, I have an early class tomorrow,” Bertholdt said pausing the TV.

 

“Yeah, I have to get back, but you had fun tonight?” Reiner asked standing up.

  
“Sure, you uh…you made tonight a fun one,” Bertholdt replied getting up from the sofa. He walked Reiner to the door and opened it. “We should do this again, maybe Friday?”

 

“Friday sounds great, I’ll get your number from Annie,” Reiner said. It was now or never, Bertholdt thought. He grabbed Reiner’s arm and leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

 

“Goodnight Reiner,” he said, feeling the heat of the blood rushing to his cheeks. Reiner chuckled and gave him a kiss back.

  
“Goodnight.” Bertholdt closed the door behind him and leaned against it, a much better impression this time around. This one might work.


	8. I Know Your Motives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bertholdt and Reiner got out for an official date with two tag-alongs.

Bertholdt was very chipper for the rest of the week, he sometimes got distracted by the thought of Reiner but rehearsals for the benefit had started and his mind had to be on that. As he entered the dance studio that Friday afternoon Miss Eder came running over to him.

 

“Wonderful news Bertholdt you won’t just be performing with your violin in the benefit,” she said.

  
“I won’t?” he asked her.

 

“No, I’ve envisioned a group dance, dancing to Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Under The Tree’ with you in the center singing, you have such a lovely voice I want everyone to hear it,” she said as some of the other girls in his group were all putting on their dance shoes.

 

“Really?” he asked as he walked over to Krista who was tying her hair up.

  
“I insist, it’s to show the diversity of the dances we do in this class, from your original innovative dancing with a musical instrument, to ballet, to the celebration of Christmas,” Miss Eder said.

 

“But I'm already singing with my headline act, why must I also get the opening act too?” Bertholdt asked her.

 

“Everyone gets to dance and to sing in the benefit, you’ll be doing your headline dance with your violin and an introduction song in this,” Miss Eder explained. He wasn’t so sure about that, singing in public wasn’t his greatest strength. “But first let me hear that voice, sing the first verse if you would.” Miss Eder passed Bertholdt a lyric sheet to the Kelly Clarkson song and he gulped, Krista gave him a thumbs up and he pictured an empty studio. He heard the music play and while he knew the song because it was slightly relatable, he wasn’t sure if he would be able to get through the first verse without his voice cracking, but he had to try. He breathed in, opened one eye and began to sing out the first verse, he could feel the slight tension in his voice from the nerves but as Krista silently cheered him on he could feel himself growing more confident with everyone seeming engaged with his voice and encouraging him to keep singing.

 

When the song had paused, everyone clapped and Miss Eder had found her opening act.

 

“Oh that was perfect Bertholdt just perfect, now let’s focus on the choreography for the opening number,” she declared as everyone got into position and she began the class.

 

* * *

 

 

“I can’t believe she’s making me sing as the opening act as well as the headline act,” Bertholdt said to Krista as they left the dance studio once class had finished.

 

“I think you’re great Bertholdt, by the way how are things going with Reiner?” she asked curiously as they reached the exit to the performing arts building and stepped back onto the campus. A cool wind blew through as one of the trees lost several more leaves to the autumn season.

 

“Pretty good, it’s been a week and we’ve mostly talked between classes, but tonight we’ve got a date, I don’t know what he’s planning though,” he replied. Krista made a funny squeak at the mention of the date.

  
“Have fun, Ymir and I are going to take it easy with a movie, pizza…and well you know,” she said slightly blushing to him as they returned to their dorm building. Bertholdt couldn’t help but find it so cute that she had to use euphemisms and implications.

  
“Always a good way to start the weekend you get the best lie-in, tomorrow my mum’s heading out to New York again and she’s bringing her new dog along, so I have to take her car to the garage for its M.O.T.,” he replied. Krista said her goodbye’s and back to her dorm to get ready for her evening with Ymir and Bertholdt returned to his dorm to shower and get ready for his date with Reiner.

 

* * *

 

 

When he was ready, he heard a knock on the door and opened it to see Reiner, Annie and Armin waiting.

 

“Annie what are you doing here?” were his first words instead of hello.

 

“I told her they could come along with us, make it a double date,” Reiner said.

  
“Yes and I wanted to see how Bear was treating you, perfect gentleman I hope,” Annie said. “Anyway let’s get going, I want us out of here before Levi comes by and finds out I was the one who put the cloves of garlic under his pillow.”

 

“That was you!” Bertholdt cried as he shut the door. “Our room smelled of garlic all of Wednesday and Thursday.”

 

“Wait, you put garlic in his roommate’s bed?” Reiner asked.

  
“Yeah, they have this running…thing where she makes vampire jokes and he accuses her of being a suffocating man-slaying succubus,” Bertholdt told Reiner as the four of them left the dorms.

  
“Well it’s true, you’re looking awfully pale Bert, pull down your collar,” Annie said. Bertholdt sighed and obliged and pulled it down to reveal his neck. “Aha! See those puncture marks, he’s been sucking your blood at night,” she cried out.

 

“Those are moles Annie.”

 

“That’s what he wants you to think,” she said.

 

“So do they like each other?” Reiner asked.

  
“I have no idea,” Bertholdt replied. He had never been really sure if Annie and Levi were actually friends, they just seemed to berate each other all the time.

 

* * *

 

 

After a drive in Armin’s car, Bertholdt saw they were at the Kurtz Karaoke Bar and Grill. He and Annie had gone here plenty of times, two of those times had been with ‘blind’ dates, this was also where Joseph worked part-time to pay for his classes to get his bartending licence,

 

“Hey Bertie, guess who’s allowed to work behind the bar now!” he heard his ex-boyfriend call as they walked over to wait for a table.

  
“Hi Joe, did you get your licence already?” Bertholdt asked him, just because they no longer dated didn’t mean they weren’t still good friends.

 

“Nope, I’m only allowed to mix the mocktails currently, hi Annie, Armin, who’s the handsome beefcake and what’s he doing with you?” Joseph said with a grin to Reiner.

 

“Reiner Braun, I’m his beefcake,” he replied wrapping an arm around Bertholdt. Joseph chuckled and waved over to one of the waiters.

 

“Nice to meet you, hey Hank, do we have any tables for four ready yet?” Joseph asked Hank.

 

“Give me ten minutes,” he said and promptly walked away into the back.

 

“It’ll be about ten minutes, now what can I get you that’s non-alcoholic because it’s all I’m legally required to serve,” Joseph said with a smile.

 

* * *

 

 

Once they’d ordered drinks and taken selfies for Armin’s Instagram @InArminute, Hank was back saying their table was ready. Reiner seemed curious over the fact that Joseph worked the bar, knowing the kind of relationship he’d had with Bertholdt.

 

“Do you see him here often then?” Reiner asked him as they all sat down.

 

“No, I only go here on dates or when my mum is in town and she doesn’t want to cook, the last time I spoke to Joseph was on the last blind date I had here,” Bertholdt replied with a side glance to Annie. “Needless to say the date didn’t go well.”

 

“Enough talk about your past dates, let’s talk benefit, Annie how do I get in as a Cater Waiter?” Reiner asked her.

 

“I call Erwin,” Annie said taking out her phone and began to dial a number, there was a pause in the dial before she started speaking. “Erwin it’s Annie…yes I found another Cater Waiter…Reiner Braun…you might need an extra-large for him, he plays Football…sure…yeah…alright, thanks Erwin.” She hung up the phone and put it on the table.

 

“Good news?” Reiner asked.

 

“Yep, you’re the latest Waiter for the benefit,” she said.

  
“Eren and I are being waiters too, we’re doing it to get paid though,” Armin admitted.

  
“You get paid to serve food and I’m performing for free, you seem to have gotten the better end of the deal Armin,” Bertholdt said getting out his phone and opened up the camera. “But if this benefit goes well, I might get that dream collaboration with Lindsey Stirling.”

 

“You dream too much,” Annie commented as she read the menu.

  
“Whatever, hey Armin take my picture will you,” Bertholdt said passing his phone over to him.

  
“Sure thing,” Armin said holding up the phone as Bertholdt leaned on the table and gave the camera a closed mouth smile, his head tilting sideways. Once Armin had taken several photos he passed the phone back to Bertholdt who looked through the photos.

 

“You have Instagram?” Reiner wondered as he saw him open the app up.

  
“Yep, Annie’s insistence,” Bertholdt replied as he put a filter on the picture and captioned it ‘Date Night’.

 

“I stand by what I said, you have a pretty face that people will follow, also he gained over two thousand followers when he got put on a page for hot bi guys,” Annie added. A waiter then came over as Bertholdt posted the picture and asked if they were ready to order. They all ordered food and more drinks as Bertholdt saw the likes running up on his picture.

 

“What’s your Instagram name, I’m curious,” Reiner said.

 

“It’s BiBiBertholdt, the pun kind of cements it,” Bertholdt replied. Reiner chuckled and then pointed to the camera.

 

“Selfie together,” he said. Bertholdt nodded and brought up the camera, he held it up as Annie and Armin watched Reiner wrap his arm around Bertholdt and grin for the camera.

  
“I’m the best matchmaker ever,” Annie told Armin.

  
“No doubt,” he agreed giving her a kiss on the cheek.


	9. Television Romance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reiner and Bertholdt go into town.

Later that evening after dinner, dessert and coffee, Armin drove them all back to the campus where they decided to call it a night.

 

“We’re off back to mine, see you later guys,” Armin said with a high five to Bertholdt.

 

“Later Armin, Annie.”

  
“You kids be safe and Reiner, remember what we discussed,” Annie said with a stern look to Reiner, Bertholdt knew it was related to what happened at the party. Once Armin and Annie were out of view, Reiner pulled Bertholdt in for a long tender kiss.

  
“What’s that for?” Bertholdt asked rather surprised.

  
“For being cute, what shall we do now, yours or mine?”

 

“Levi’s hosting his acapella group, Levi’s Lovelies, so my place is a no go,” Bertholdt said.

  
“So mine then, my roommate should be out at a party so we’ve got the place to ourselves,” Reiner said hoisting Bertholdt over his shoulder and walking in the direction of his dorm building. Bertholdt was rather shocked by being lifted up by Reiner, but it wasn’t the worst.

 

* * *

 

 

Inside the dorm Reiner paraded Bertholdt down towards his room and got out his key.

  
“If you want we can relegate ourselves to just making out on the couch,” Reiner offered. He then kicked the door open and swore loudly. “Fucking Christ Saiichi!” Confused, Bertholdt turned himself around to see Levi’s cousin Mikasa naked on the sofa with Reiner’s roommate.

 

“Hi Bertholdt,” she said plainly.

  
“Hi Mikasa,” he replied with a small wave.

 

“Saiichi what did I say about the sofa being off limits, people sit on that,” Reiner said in a mad tone, dropping Bertholdt like a rock.

 

“I figured you wouldn’t come back tonight.”

 

“Is Levi hosting acapella?” Mikasa asked Bertholdt as she discreetly got changed back into her clothes using the blanket as a shield.

  
“Yep,” he replied getting to his feet.

 

“Bertholdt, mind staying here while Saiichi and I have a discussion in the hall,” Reiner said as he beckoned Saiichi who was putting his jeans back on.

  
“I can wait,” Bertholdt said. Reiner smiled as he and Saiichi walked into the hallway and closed the door. “So you’re dating Saiichi, how did you two meet?”

 

“Hockey and we’re not exactly dating,” Mikasa replied. “I should probably go, don’t want to overstep my boundaries, not if Reiner’s pissed.”

 

“Well if you think so…you know what, I might head out with you, I’m pretty tired,” Bertholdt said as she put her jacket on and they opened the door.

 

“We’re going to go, call me later Saiichi,” Mikasa said as she started to walk left down towards the exit.

 

“You leaving too Bert?” Reiner asked Bertholdt who nodded.

 

“Yeah, I’ll text you tomorrow,” he told Reiner and left the dorm with Mikasa.

 

* * *

 

 

When Bertholdt returned to his dorm, Levi’s Lovelies had disbanded for the evening and were all sitting in the kitchen singing The Union Song by the Sportsmen Quartet. They all waved in unison to Bertholdt as he headed into his room. He saw a text from Reiner asking if he did something wrong and he replied saying that he was just tired but he wanted him to help him take the car to the garage for its M.O.T. in the morning. Bertholdt was barely through his morning coffee when Reiner knocked on the door bright-eyed and ready for the day.

 

“It’s eight o’clock Reiner,” Bertholdt said when he saw him standing there in the dorm hall.

  
“I’ve been up since six,” Reiner told him.

 

“You are a mad man,” Bertholdt told him, it was too early for Reiner’s chirpiness, even if it was nice to see.

 

“Also I thought I’d tell you that it’s our match against Marley University on Wednesday, be nice to see you on the front bench supporting us,” Reiner said to him.

  
“Yeah I’ll come, I enjoy contact sports,” Bertholdt said and finished the rest of his coffee quickly.

 

* * *

 

 

They picked up the car and took it down to Hannes who owned the garage in town.

 

“How bad is it?” Bertholdt asked as Hannes checked the engine.

  
“Not as bad as your mother thought it would be when she called, where is she anyway?” Hannes asked him.

  
“New York, work takes her up there a lot,” Bertholdt replied.

  
“Well I’ve got a lot of work to do, come back tomorrow and I’ll let you know if it can still run,” Hannes said to him.

 

“Sounds good, we’ll pick it up tomorrow,” Bertholdt said. He and Reiner left the garage and walked into town. They headed down a street with rather nice stores and Bertholdt pointed over to a really posh looking tailors.

 

“Hey Reiner, let’s stop in here, I need to check something,” he said walking over to the shop. Reiner followed him as they entered the store to be greeted with a strong smell of leather and Italian opera playing.

 

“Bertoli!” a man called out from behind the counter.

  
“Buongiorno Dot,” Bertholdt called to the man as he walked over excitedly.

 

“Bertoli, I have been wondering when you would return, because it’s finished, oh you have a friend with you, greetings I am Dot Pyxis,” Pyxis said bowing to Reiner.

 

“Why does he call you Bertoli?” Reiner asked Bertholdt as they followed Pyxis through the store.

  
“He can’t say my name, but Bertoli sounds good so it stuck,” Bertholdt replied.

  
“I finished this several days ago, I had to wait for the silk to arrive, are you ready?” Pyxis asked him.

 

“I’m excited,” Bertholdt replied. Pyxis grinned as he went into the room behind the counter and shortly returned holding a waistcoat. Bertholdt gasped at the waistcoat as Pyxis beamed proudly.

 

“It’s beautiful,” Bertholdt said as Pyxis handed him the waistcoat.

  
“Try it on and see if it fits, if it’s too big we can take it in a bit,” Pyxis said. Bertholdt walked over to the mirror and put the waistcoat on. Reiner nodded in approval at the way the waistcoat hugged Bertholdt’s body.

 

“I like it, makes you look…hot,” Reiner said. Pyxis laughed at Reiner’s comment.

 

“Hot, you jest boy, he is a handsome devil, must break many hearts,” he said to Reiner.

 

“How much is it, I know custom made can be more than regular,” Bertholdt said.

  
“Three hundred dollars,” Pyxis said.

  
“What, for a waistcoat?” Reiner cried out as Bertholdt took off the waistcoat.

  
“I’ll take it,” Bertholdt said as he handed Pyxis the waistcoat and pulled out his wallet to reveal a black American Express credit card. Reiner’s jaw dropped as Bertholdt handed the card over to Pyxis who swiped it.

  
“You have a black card?” Reiner cried out again. “Those are really hard to get, what company does your mum work for again?”

 

“Sony,” Bertholdt replied as Pyxis handed back the credit card. Reiner’s jaw seemed to hit the floor, he was dating a rich boy. “Are you okay Reiner?”

  
“You’re buying me dinner next time,” Reiner said to him.

 

* * *

 

 

When the waistcoat was paid for, Bertholdt and Reiner walked around town some more and around two o’clock arrived back at the campus. Reiner was still in awe that Bertholdt was rich.

 

“I can’t believe what I’m seeing,” Reiner said as they returned to Bertholdt’s dorm to see two new faces sitting at the kitchen counter.

 

“Hi Bertholdt,” one of them said.

 

“Hey Mina, Hannah, this is Reiner,” Bertholdt said.

  
“Hi Reiner,” Mina said with a wave.

  
“Hi,” Reiner said. “Are they the other roommates?”

 

“They live in the other room yeah, is Levi in?”

 

“No he went out with Eren, we’re off to go to the union if you want to join,” Hannah said.

  
“No I think we’ll hang out here, see you two later,” Bertholdt replied. Hannah and Mina left to go to the union leaving Reiner and Bertholdt alone. They went into the bedroom and Bertholdt put the shopping backs under his desk. “What do you want to do now?”

 

“You!” Reiner said as he closed the door.

  
“What?” Bertholdt asked.

 

“Sorry, force of habit, I don’t normally do the dating thing, I’m more of a casual fling guy, you know,” Reiner replied. It was an honest answer, now Bertholdt understood why Reiner was so quick to hit on him at the party.

 

“That actually explains a lot, well we can finish what we never got to start last night,” Bertholdt suggested.

 

“I like the sound of that,” Reiner agreed. He pulled Bertholdt into a long kiss and gently pushed him down onto his bed and climbed over him. He was better than he thought, not too wet like most of Reiner’s flings, he resisted the urge to try get Bertholdt out of his clothes, remembering what Annie told him. All of a sudden there was a vibrating against Bertholdt’s leg as he felt his phone ringing. He broke away from Reiner and pulled it out his pocket to see it was his mother. Reiner sat up as Bertholdt answered the phone.

  
“Hey mum, how are things?” Bertholdt asked. There was a long silence as the pink blush on Bertholdt’s face disappeared and his mouth started to quiver, Reiner could see a pool of tears gathering in his eyes as he then hung up the phone and place it on the pillow.

 

“Bertholdt?” Reiner asked him with concern.

  
“It’s my dad…he’s dead.”


	10. Binary Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The day of the funeral arrives.

The next week went by in a haze for Bertholdt. It was a series of phone calls, lyric sheets scattered about, and white noise as he tried to prepare himself for the funeral. Both Ymir and Krista made arrangements for Bertholdt’s classes so he could take the time to process the news, Reiner was lost for what to do and so stayed as close as he could, even if it was just to sit in the same room in silence. When Friday arrived for the funeral, Bertholdt was standing in front of the mirror wearing a black suit, his eyes were red, dry, his stomach empty. He had barely slept or eaten since he heard the news. Ymir pushed the door open.

 

“Hey, the car’s waiting outside to take us to the church,” she told him.

  
“I still don’t know if I should sing,” he said still staring. Ymir walked over to him and squeezed his hand.

  
“You should, one last time for your dad, I’m gonna miss him,” she said. Ymir had fond memories of Bertholdt’s dad, he would always say she was welcome in their house and one time allowed her to stay at the house when her own dad was arrested. That was a month of bliss before the social worker came to take her back to her dad when he got out on bail.

 

“I look awful,” Bertholdt said.

 

“Put these on, did you sleep at all?” Ymir asked handing him a pair of sunglasses.

 

“I don’t know, I don’t think I left this room all week,” he replied. Ymir held onto his hand as she guided him out of the bedroom. Krista, Reiner, Annie and Armin were all waiting dressed in black.

 

“Let’s go,” Ymir said. Krista went to Bertholdt to give him a hug. He accepted it, patting her head a bit and followed them all outside to take the car to the church.

 

* * *

 

 

It was sunny for a late October day, the golden leaves were scattered about the graveyard as the breezes blew through. Several Ravens sat watching as the funeral procession were gathered around a coffin that had an American flag draped over. Aside from Bertholdt, his mum, and his friends, there were several military officers and soldiers and the honour guard all dressed in their formal garb. When the speeches were done it was time for Bertholdt to give the eulogy. He stared down at the coffin, his sunglasses hiding the tired eyes and tears he gripped his father’s dog tags that had been recovered for him.

 

“My dad was my hero, he looked out for me, my mum, even my best friend, there was no one who could say a bad thing about him. He taught me valuable life lessons and skills, and the last time I spoke to him, I told him I was going to be performing at a benefit and that I wanted him to be there, he said he would be there…I love you dad, I was debating if I should give you one last performance, sing you one last song, you always loved older music, said you could never beat the classics, so here is a classic just for you, the one you played for me when I was six.”

 

Everyone watched as Bertholdt started to sing, Reiner had only heard him at the diner, where it was quiet and raw but this was different, he could hear the shaking in his voice but the strength too as he sang Happy Times by Bob Crosby. Reiner looked as he saw Ymir biting her fist to stay quiet. Annie and Armin stood silently watching and he could see Veronica smiling as she watched her son sing for his dad one last time. When the song had finished, Bertholdt placed his hand on the coffin and looked at the picture of his dad.

 

“Goodbye dad, I love you.”

 

* * *

 

 

The rest of the day was followed by a wake at the house, Veronica was on the phone with her boss as Bertholdt was telling everyone the story of when he came out to his dad.

 

“He had come back and told me that he had broken three more recruits down and was going to make soldiers out of them, I had been really nervous about him coming back home because I had to tell him, mum was fine but she knew I should be the one to say it. So we were out at the diner and we’d ordered food and I just said straight out ‘Dad I’m Bisexual’,” Bertholdt said.

 

“What happened next?” Armin asked.

  
“Dad was silent for a moment and then said ‘What’s his name?’ which stunned me a little so I was said ‘Joseph’ and then he replied with ‘I like him, he’s a nice boy, invite him around to dinner,’ I did and…yeah, he was good with it, I never knew how he truly felt dad was very good at hiding his true feelings, but I think he was happy I was honest,” Bertholdt said.

  
“I loved your dad, I wanted him to adopt me, remember when we were eleven and he helped us build that fort,” Ymir said.

  
“The one that was built to withstand enemy fire,” Bertholdt added.

 

“What was enemy fire?” Reiner asked him.

 

“Sofa cushions,” Bertholdt said. He felt his stomach growl, he was starving, but he still had no desire to eat and the brave smile he was putting on was a fake one.

 

“Sweetie, I need to talk to you,” Veronica said. He got up from the sofa and followed her out of the living room. “That was Mister Petrie, he’s getting me a flight out tonight, are you sure you’ll be okay going back to the campus, I don’t want to leave you if you’re not okay.”  


“I think I’ll be okay mum, I’ve got my friends, Ymir will make sure to look out for me, and I have Reiner,” he replied.

  
“Reiner, it’s a pity we couldn’t meet under better circumstances, but he seems like a fine young man, you take all the time you need, I’m sure your teachers will understand,” she said to him.

  
“I will…I’m gonna miss dad, I was so hoping he would be back in time for the benefit,” Bertholdt said feeling it hit him again that his dad was gone.

 

“Me too sweetie, I’m going to miss him too,” Veronica said as she gave her son a tight hug.

 

* * *

 

 

Bertholdt, Ymir, Krista, Reiner, Annie, and Armin all returned to the campus around nine that evening, Annie followed Armin back to his and Eren’s dorm where Levi was staying. Ymir and Krista returned to their dorm and Reiner followed Bertholdt back to his. Bertholdt had been silent but Reiner could hear his stomach growling incessantly for food. He didn’t want to force him, every time he’d asked Bertholdt if he wanted food, he just said no, it wasn’t healthy but Reiner knew Bertholdt was grieving.

  
“Hey if you need to be alone, I can go,” Reiner said to him as they entered Bertholdt and Levi’s dorm room.

  
“No I…I need you to stay, please,” Bertholdt said to him as he slipped off his shoes and kicked them under the bed. Reiner nodded and pulled him into a hug. Bertholdt sighed, he was so tired but he still couldn’t find the need to sleep. “Don’t leave.”

 

“I won’t,” Reiner promised him. He gave Bertholdt a soft kiss, which was reciprocated with a longer kiss before he saw Bertholdt was close to tears again.

 

“I’m sorry I missed your game,” he said. Reiner wiped the tear that had fallen and stared straight at him.

 

“You can come to next one,” he replied. Bertholdt shook off the jacket, pulled off his tie and began to slowly unbutton his shirt, it was too much effort he just wanted to sleep. Every button started to get undone slower and as Reiner took his shirt off, he could see Bertholdt slowing down and decided to help him. He helped pull off the white shirt, for a moment just glancing at his body, he curled his fingers into a fist resisting the urge to touch Bertholdt. Bertholdt could see what Reiner wanted to do and he leaned forward and kissed him. He undid his belt and pulled down his trousers and stepped out of them. Reiner followed suite and they got under the bed covers. Reiner held Bertholdt close but Bertholdt could feel sleep approaching, his eyelids heavy, he got in one more kiss before falling asleep, his arms wrapped tightly around Reiner, who was just happy to be this close to him.


	11. Everything’s Alright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bertholdt wakes up after a long sleep and it seems everything is alright now.

When Bertholdt awoke, his alarm clock read eight-twelve AM. He sat up and ran a hand through his bed hair and looked around, he was still in his underwear, his bed covers hanging off the bed and Reiner gone. Slowly he dragged himself out of bed and opened the door to the communal kitchen and living room. Reiner was in the kitchen cooking breakfast in fresh clean clothes and Mina and Hannah were drinking coffee at the counter.

  
“Bertholdt!” Mina cried seeing him venture of the room.

  
“Hey Bert, how are you feeling?” Hannah said as they got out of their seats and walked over to him, ignoring that he was only wearing black boxers that had a red heart on the left leg.

 

“I’m uh…I’m good, I feel like I smashed into a wall but I’m good,” he said.

  
“You’re finally awake, I was worried you were dead at one point, had to check your heart was still beating,” Reiner said as he cooked up an omelette.

 

“How long was I asleep?” Bertholdt asked him as Hannah went into his room and came out with his Lana Del Rey shirt.

 

“Let’s see we got back here at ten on Friday so…at least thirty-four hours,” Reiner said. Bertholdt’s mouth dropped at the number as he quickly put the shirt on and went into check his phone. It was Sunday morning and he had a lot of notifications from his apps. He walked back out into the kitchen and sat down at the counter.

 

“I’ve been out for a whole day?” he asked Reiner as Mina fixed him a coffee.

  
“You barely slept at all last week, Levi came back yesterday and vacuumed and you still didn’t stir,” Reiner told him dishing everything onto two plates.

  
“Reiner kept an eye on you the whole time you were asleep, we’re sorry about your dad,” Hannah said to him.

 

“That’s okay, but-,” Bertholdt began before his stomach growled loudly. “But I think I need breakfast.”

 

“I was making breakfast just in case you did wake up, you know you kicked me in the face yesterday while you were sleeping,” Reiner told him as he put a plate of omelette and bacon in front of Bertholdt. The bacon smell was heavenly to Bertholdt as he picked up a strip of bacon and just devoured it in a single bite. Reiner looked at him in surprise and admiration as he ate the bacon. Hannah and Mina giggled at Reiner’s blushing face.

 

“We’re going to go back to our room now,” Mina said as she nudged for Hannah to follow her, they walked back into their dorm room as Reiner leaned on the counter.

  
“So when you said Joseph called you Big Boy for more reasons than one, is one of them your ability to deep throat?” Reiner asked Bertholdt who was now eating the omelette. Bertholdt looked at him, swallowed and said:

 

“Close but no, deep throating is not why he called me Big Boy, surely you must know why, they’re pretty obvious,” Bertholdt said. Reiner leaned up and grabbed his plate and went to sit beside him.

 

“Oh I do, I just wanted to see if you had perked up a bit, I’d never seen you so…distraught,” Reiner said.

  
“I was…but I think the sleep and this breakfast has done me good, I think I’m okay now, it was just hard saying goodbye you know,” Bertholdt told him.

 

“Yeah…it does suck, but hey, maybe today we can go into town and do some retail therapy and maybe get Annie and Armin and go do karaoke tonight, I still don’t have my Halloween costume for Tuesday night’s party yet,” Reiner said.

  
“I can definitely help, I might switch up from my Ezio costume, maybe go as a sexy cat or something,” Bertholdt said.

  
“Show me those abs again,” Reiner said. Bertholdt lifted his shirt and Reiner nodded and leaned forward.

  
“Yes, they’ll do nicely,” he said approvingly. Bertholdt laughed and pulled his shirt down.

  
“I need to shower, I’ve slept for a whole day,” he said.

 

“I’ll clean up here.” Reiner grabbed Bertholdt’s hand and squeezed it hard. “You’re good?” Bertholdt nodded.

  
“I’m good,” he answered, letting go of Reiner’s hand and getting up to head to the bathroom.

 

* * *

 

 

The hot water was welcoming as Bertholdt just leaned against the shower wall letting the water soak him. He sighed and allowed more tears to fall, he wasn’t okay it still hurt to admit that his dad was gone, but he had to be strong, this grief would end eventually. He lathered himself with soap and began to sing now that he was feeling the urge.

  
“This ain’t for the best, my reputation’s never been worse so you must like me for me, we can’t make any promises now can we babe, but you can make me a drink.”

 

* * *

 

 

Outside in the kitchen, Reiner was cleaning and could now hear the muffled singing from behind the bathroom door and smiled, he was glad Bertholdt was feeling better enough to sing, even if it was Taylor Swift. His phone buzzed and he looked to see a blocked number, Reiner sighed, not again.

 

“What,” he said irritated.

  
“Well, well you finally answered, I don’t hear from you for a week and now you pick up,” the voice on the other end said.

  
“I thought I made it clear the last time we spoke, we’re broken up James for good this time,” Reiner said.

  
“So you are seeing someone else, normally when I call you come running back for my sweet ass, who is he?” James asked.

 

“No one of your concern,” Reiner answered. James laughed.

 

“How quaint, you’re keeping him a secret, don’t want me to find out and disapprove, well I know it won’t last, you’ll break up in a few weeks and I’ll be here waiting and you’ll get back to your spiral of one night stands and booty calls, call you later,” James told him and hung up. Reiner growled as he locked the phone and placed it on the counter. He put the plates away and heard the sound of the shower stop and then a thud.

  
“FUCK, fuck, fucking, fuck, every goddamn time!” he heard Bertholdt shout from behind the door. Reiner walked over to the door and knocked on it.

  
“You okay?”

  
“Yeah just...,” he stopped talking and Reiner saw the door open to see Bertholdt soaking wet, towel around his waist, clothes in one hand, and rubbing his head. “I smacked my head on the doorway of the shower again.”

 

“Again?”

 

“It happens way too often.” Reiner chuckled and kissed Bertholdt.

 

“Is it inappropriate of me to say I want to watch you get changed?” Reiner asked him.

  
“Hardly, you probably have been waiting for the day,” Bertholdt said as he walked towards his bedroom, Reiner grinned and followed him eager to watch forgetting his locked phone on the counter. As Bertholdt shut the door, he was met with a kiss from Reiner. “What’s that for?”

 

“For being cute, and having great abs,” Reiner told him.

  
“Careful Reiner, my ego can only grow so much,” Bertholdt said. Reiner grinned at the comment and loosened the towel around Bertholdt’s waist. Their bodies pressed together kept the towel still in place, but that wasn’t going to last long. “And I need to get changed,” Bertholdt added on as he back away from Reiner, keeping the towel in place with his hand.

  
“I know, I know, I tend to get a little overexcited at hot men, you should have seen my History teacher, I wanted him to teach me a lesson or two,” Reiner said as he sat down on the messy bed. He watched as Bertholdt dropped his dirty clothes in the laundry basket and grabbed a fresh pair of boxers from the drawer. “Now show me the money,” Reiner demanded.

  
“Are you sure you can handle it, Joseph couldn’t the first time,” Bertholdt told him.

 

“I’m pretty sure I can handle it,” Reiner assured him. Bertholdt rolled his eyes in disbelief and let go of the towel. As it dropped to the floor, Reiner’s jaw dropped a little and then spread into a grin.

 

“Oh yes, I can handle it,” he said as Bertholdt quickly slipped into his boxers. He could see Reiner was eager to take the next step with him, and he was into the idea of it, maybe tonight.

 

“Hey if I can persuade Levi to stay over with Eren, you could stay over tonight,” Bertholdt said, he saw on the table his father’s dog tags and picked up the chain and put it on. He would just need pick some things up first.

 

“I’m totally up for staying over tonight, let me tell Saiichi,” Reiner said. He got up and reached into his pocket only to remember about his phone on the counter. “I left it in the kitchen, I’ll be right back.” Reiner walked out of the room as Bertholdt put on his shirt and then picked up his phone and dialled Ymir.

  
“Hey Berty, how are you feeling, I didn’t hear from you at all yesterday,” Ymir answered.

  
“I need a favour, I need you to get me a box of condoms,” Bertholdt told her.

  
“Are you aware that you just asked a Lesbian to get you condoms?” Ymir asked him.

  
“Fully, Reiner’s staying over tonight and I don’t have any, I can’t get any right now as he’s in my kitchen and we’re about to go out, bring them to karaoke tonight down at the union,” he said.

  
“What do I get out of it?” Ymir asked.

  
“Whatever you want,” Bertholdt offered and hung up. He dropped his phone on the bed and put on his converse and grabbed his satchel. “You ready to go?” he asked Reiner who was on the phone. He nodded and then said:

  
“And for the love of all that holy do not have sex on the couch again, stop breaking the couch rule.” He hung up the phone and put it in his pocket. “I don’t think Saiichi is ever going to get the message.”

 

“So get rid of the couch then,” Bertholdt suggested.

  
“I would but then where would anyone sit?” Reiner replied. They headed out of the dorm and down into town, Bertholdt hoped that Ymir would hold up her end of the bargain.


	12. Fuel For My Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bertholdt and Reiner finally go for it.

For the rest of the morning and afternoon, Reiner and Bertholdt spent in town. Reiner had finally chosen his Halloween costume, a sexy fireman, and Bertholdt had switched it up to being a wrestler at Reiner’s insistence.

 

“So on a freezing cold night, you’re going to be in thick yellow trousers and suspenders and I get Finn Balor’s underwear,” Bertholdt said to Reiner as they arrived at the union for karaoke.

  
“Look all I’m saying is blue spandex trunks, kneepads, and boots will work for you, you can call yourself the Titan or something,” Reiner suggested finding them a table.

  
“The Titan, I might as well dress up as a stripper,” Bertholdt replied.

  
“Stripper, Reiner what have you done?” Annie asked approaching them.

  
“He’s making me dress as a wrestler for the Halloween party, no Ezio for me, no I get to wear spandex,” Bertholdt said in the most passive-aggressive tone he could muster.

 

“I’m not opposed to it, you have good abs,” Annie said.

 

“See, Lion agrees with me,” Reiner said. Bertholdt spotted Ymir and Krista and headed over to them.

  
“Hey, did you get them?” he asked her.

 

“As per your instructions,” Ymir said holding up a box of Skyn condoms.

  
“Put them in the bag, I don’t want Reiner to see, I’m kind of making it a surprise,” Bertholdt said opening up his satchel so she could hide them in there.

  
“I’m surprised you’re letting him delve into your cave of wonders so soon, wasn’t Joseph like two months into the relationship?” Ymir asked him.

  
“I had to wait for him to turn sixteen and get that car, we made an agreement,” Bertholdt replied. Ymir rolled her eyes and wrapped an arm around Krista. “Besides, I really like Reiner and it’s about time we do this.”

 

“Alright, you owe me for this, I had to make small talk with the lady who ran the pharmacy counter, small talk, I don’t do small talk,” she said. They walked on over to the table and sat down as Annie brought over a round of shots.

 

“Tequila slammers all around, I can’t sing without drinking first,” she said as everyone grabbed a shot. Bertholdt quickly down his shot and texted Levi: _Need the room tonight, big things happening_. He immediately got a text back saying: _Gotcha, will stay with Eren tonight ;)._

 

“Alright, give me another I’m in the mood to get crazy tonight,” Bertholdt said as he grabbed another Tequila shot and downed it. Getting crazy was definitely going to help, he needed as much distraction as possible and alcohol and Reiner were good ones. The karaoke had been set up and people were starting to make their requests, Bertholdt looked down the list to see a lot of mostly pop stuff but he needed something that would give Reiner a hint about what he wanted to do tonight, something subtle and not _Sex_ by The 1975.

  
“Hey Ymir, help me out here,” Bertholdt said as he showed her the book, Reiner was in a very hearty conversation with Armin about muscle mass, so he wouldn’t be listening. “I need something that’s mentions sex pretty subtly.”

 

“You’re going to have a hard time doing that and this thing gets updated with every new Top 40 change,” Krista pointed out.

  
“Well I need something, he thinks I’m still not ready, I want to show I am,” Bertholdt said as he raised the book up to shield the conversation.

 

“What about Shape of You?” she asked.

  
“Not subtle enough,” Bertholdt said. Then he saw a Bebe Rehxa song on the list, one he had listened to on Spotify. “This one works, Self-Control, think you could be my backup vocalist, all you have to do is say the word na.”

 

“Sure thing,” Krista agreed. They went up to put their name down on the list so they’d be called when it was their turn to sing. Currently someone was singing Journey.

 

“So what are you singing then?” Reiner asked him.

  
“It’s a surprise, I’m going to need another shot of tequila, three shots is the golden amount for singing, I’m loosened up and I don’t have to worry about my voice cracking,” Bertholdt told him. It was also the amount that would cause him to start babbling and talking. Annie had gone classic and picked a Queen Song and Ymir was going to do her classic Katy Perry’s _I Kissed A Girl_. When it came to Bertholdt and Krista’s turn they stepped up to the mics, the music started and he gave Reiner a suggestive wink.

  
“Got no self-control and I don’t mean cigarettes and alcohol, ‘cause when it comes to you I can’t say no, I don’t wanna taste, I want it all. When I get your call I’m out the door, not a minute more, like an animal I lose control, it’s illogical, oh, oh, one little kiss can turn into a thousand, one little touch and I’m gone,” he sang. He pulled the microphone from the stand and started to belt out the chorus, Krista chiming in with the backup na’s, his eyes fixed on Reiner. Annie smirked and whispered to Reiner.

  
“I think he’s trying to tell you something.”

  
“Definitely,” he agreed. Ymir chuckled watching the performance

  
“And the hunger grows, I’m craving you and my body knows, ‘cause it wakes me up, heart through my chest, this could be love. One little kiss can turn into a thousand, one little touch and I’m gone,” Bertholdt sang. Everyone was watching intrigued with the performance, but Reiner was the most intrigued, leaning on the table watching him sing, he had a good voice, loosened up with tequila he had no stage fright, it was sexy. When the song finished, everyone clapped as Bertholdt bowed and then pointed to Krista.

  
“Give it up for my backup singer, she’s a great one,” he said putting the microphone back and going to the table.

  
“Well, well, he can sing, and what a lovely voice it is,” Reiner said as he put his arm around him.

 

“I’m getting over my stage fright,” he said before kissing Reiner with slight force.

  
“Whoa there, we’re in public,” Reiner said. Bertholdt grinned and leaned in close to him.

  
“Not for long, let’s go, Levi’s staying at Eren’s,” he said. He grabbed Reiner’s hand and his satchel and pulled him from the table. Ymir watched them leave and gave Bertholdt a nod of approval. Bertholdt gave her a finger gun in return and they left the union.

 

* * *

 

 

They returned to the dorm room, it was quiet, Mina and Hannah were out and Levi was at Eren’s. They made their way into the dorm room and closed it. Reiner dropped his jacket on Levi’s neatly made bed and Bertholdt kicked off his shoes.

  
“So what do you have planned for us?” Reiner asked him as Bertholdt dropped his satchel on the ground and picked something out it. Bertholdt placed the Skyn condoms on the bedside table and turned to Reiner holding up one he had taken from the box. “And who is that for?”

 

“Me,” Bertholdt said with a smile that Reiner could see was dripping with lust. It surprised him, normally Reiner was the guy who got to bury the other guy's face in the pillow, not the other way around.

  
“Okay, I can get behind that, or rather you will,” Reiner said as he took his shirt off. Bertholdt watched as Reiner stripped down, keeping the boxers on, probably waiting until they would get hot and heavy to take them off, and sat down on the bed. He watched as Bertholdt took off his jeans and socks and then climbed over him, pushing him back so he was sitting up against the wall. He pulled off his t-shirt, threw it behind him and kissed him. He could tell Reiner was excited for this, his hands grazing his thighs, moving up his back and back down, it was good, it was needed.

  
“How do you want to do this?” he asked Reiner, he remembered how it was with Joseph, backseat of a Mercedes, Joseph on his back, his legs over Bertholdt’s shoulders, Joseph constantly saying ‘yes’ and ‘fuck’ over and over, the body heat, the fogged up windows, the sound of Joseph trying to sit up after getting stuck to the leather and them sitting in the car, naked, sweaty and breathing rapidly.

  
“How about me on top, I kind of want to see the look on your face as you finish inside me,” Reiner told him between kisses.

  
“Alright then,” Bertholdt agreed. He climbed off Reiner and lay down on his bed, letting Reiner lie on top of him, continuing their array of kisses. He gripped Reiner’s thigh, letting his finger admire the muscle as he grabbed Reiner’s boxers and tugged on them hard.

 

“Hold on a second,” Reiner said as he quickly got off Bertholdt and grabbed his phone from his jean pocket. He climbed back onto him, turned on the camera and took a picture. “This is going to be my new lock screen, your orgasm face will be the home screen.” Bertholdt laughed at his comment and leaned up to kiss him, pulling his own underwear down his legs. Reiner pulled his own underwear off and leaned over Bertholdt, his hand just gently teasing Bertholdt’s cock.

 

“I can see it, you like being the top, never been a bottom bitch have you?” Bertholdt asked him.

  
“And you have?”

 

“Joseph preferred being bottom, I can make you enjoy that position if you’ll let me.”

  
“Oh please,” Reiner said leaning down to kiss Bertholdt. Bertholdt grabbed the condom and ripped the packet open, carefully sliding it over his erection,. Can’t be too careful, he thought to himself, especially with someone like Reiner, last thing he’d want is a second bout of Chlamydia.

  
“You ready?” Bertholdt asked him.

  
“You know it,” Reiner said. Reiner wasted no time, manoeuvring himself so that Bertholdt could slide into him easily thanks the lubrication of the condom. Bertholdt moved his hips, enjoying the feeling, it’d been a while since he’d done this and with a guy too. Reiner was letting out moans of ‘oh yes’ ‘fuck’ and ‘ride the titan’, teasing his own cock which Bertholdt knew would have a disastrous consequence in his position.

  
“Oh God, this is…yes, oh, fuck!” Bertholdt said feeling his orgasm, he bucked his hips, grabbed Reiner’s waist and dug his fingernails into the skin leaving little indents. Reiner grinned and merely rubbed himself harder.

  
“My turn big boy,” he said to Bertholdt and leaned over him to kiss him, not letting Bertholdt have any relief. “I’m getting closer.” He whispered against his ear, which made Bertholdt shiver, he started to help Reiner who could feel the edge nearing. “Oh fuck yeah, oh, oh fuck.” Bertholdt turned his head to the side but not quick enough as he felt warm fluid hit his face, he heard Reiner start laughing and felt him shift his weight on him.

  
“Oh my God I’m sorry,” Reiner said seeing the white substance just drizzle down Bertholdt’s face. Bertholdt just sighed with some content and sat up.

 

“Believe me you’re not the first,” he said. Reiner laughed a little and picked up his phone and snapped a picture.

 

“And there is my home screen,” he said. They laughed as Reiner climbed off Bertholdt and stood up on the floor. Bertholdt grabbed some tissue from the box on the bedside table and carefully pulled off the condom and wrapped it up in tissue. He wiped his face clean and leaned down to pick up his boxers. He got back into them as Reiner got back into his.

 

“Did you enjoy that?” Reiner asked him.

 

“I’ll admit I do kind of like receiving a money shot,” Bertholdt admitted. Reiner chuckled and kissed him.

 

“I mean the sex, did you enjoy it, I did,” he said.

  
“I did, it was good,” Bertholdt told him. Reiner smiled and kissed him again.

 

“Good, we still have time, let’s get dressed and watch something,” he suggested. Bertholdt nodded, it was a good idea. They dressed and went into the living area and turned on Netflix, Reiner looked at his phone which had a text from James, he opened it to see a picture of a shirtless Bertholdt from Instagram and a message: _He’s a hottie, shame he’s too good for you._


	13. Kiss Me Like Your Boyfriend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after and inspiration strikes.

That Monday morning, Bertholdt and Reiner were eating breakfast when Reiner had a thought back to last night.

 

“Do you always use condoms?” Reiner asked him. Bertholdt nodded as he took another bite of his Bacon Sandwich.

  
“I’ve always tried to be safe, there’s only been one time where I haven’t been safe and that did not end well,” he replied.

  
“What happened?”

 

“I hooked up with this girl in Ymir’s photography class last year at a New Year’s party, ‘don’t use one of those silly things, I’m on the pill’ she told me, bitch gave me Chlamydia and I didn’t find out till five weeks later after I went to the health clinic for a sexual health check-up, since then they’ve been a requirement for me, anyone who doesn’t want to use one I’ve immediately broke it off with,” he explained to Reiner.

  
“I get it, I’m totally on board with that,” Reiner said. “What kind of boyfriend would I be if I wasn’t respectful to your wishes?” Bertholdt paused, his coffee mug several inches from his lips.

  
“What did you say?” he asked.

  
“What kind of boyfriend would I be?” Reiner repeated. Boyfriend, they hadn’t ever discussed the idea of exclusivity.

 

“That is a good question…you want to be my boyfriend?” Bertholdt asked him. Reiner nodded and opened up his phone.

  
“Of course I do, I like you a lot, I know we haven’t discussed it but I wouldn’t mind bringing you home to my mother and saying ‘meet my boyfriend Bertholdt, he has good abs’.”

 

“Always with the abs, you know I could go for it, be nice to have a boyfriend again,” Bertholdt said, he looked at his watch on his wrist, music theory was in twenty minutes. “We should get going, I’ve got a class in twenty minutes.” Reiner looked at his phone and saw the time.

  
“Oh God yeah, I’ve biokinetics,” he said.

 

* * *

  
They headed out of the dorm and down to the arts and science building. As they stopped outside Bertholdt’s classroom, Reiner gave him a long kiss, prompting a lot of woos from Bertholdt’s classmates.

  
“See you later big boy,” he whispered and left for his class. Bertholdt blushed and walked into the classroom where Annie waved him over.

 

“Over here,” she said.

  
“Hey Hoover, why don’t you keep that in the closet with your masculinity?” he heard Leonard call to him as he sat down.

  
“Shut up Leonard we all know you had to pay Jerrica to go with you to the fresher’s party,” Bertholdt called back to him. “And while we’re at it, write something original for once.” Leonard was the worst, a classic jackass who had to beat down on his bisexuality and act like he was better than him because his dad owns a record company.

  
“Ignore him, he’s still salty that his dad’s company lost four artists last month,” Annie said saying the last part loudly.

 

“Fuck you Leonheart,” Leonard said.

  
“Settle down you lot and Leonard once again I will not tolerate any disrespectful behaviour in this class,” Mister Cobalt said walking into the classroom.

  
“Yes sir,” Leonard said sitting back in his chair. Bertholdt rolled his eyes, why was that clown even taking music theory.

 

* * *

 

 

When his class let out, Annie and Bertholdt went to meet Armin at the on-campus Starbucks. Bertholdt had a text from Reiner saying to come and watch him practice at the field around one and to bring coffee.

  
“So where did you and Reiner sneak off to last night?” she asked him.

  
“We went back to mine, things happened and it was fun,” he said to her unable to hide the smile that was plastered to his face.

  
“You fox you, you slept with him,” Annie said seeing the grin on his face.

 

“I did, I have to admit Annie, you did good with Reiner,” he said.

  
“Well I’m glad you like him, you’re way better than James was, he was an asshole.”

 

“Who’s James?”

  
“Well from what Marcel told me, James and Reiner were a thing when he was at community college, they would date and break up constantly, and Reiner would hook up with strangers for several weeks and then would go back to James, it was a mess, in your bid to get a new relationship I figured you could break Reiner’s messy pattern,” she said as they ordered coffees.

 

“This guy must have been terrible, I’m kind of glad my breakup with Joseph was clean,” Bertholdt. He and Joseph had agreed that what they had was a high school romance and it was better to stay that way. “I’m going to take these coffees to go and meet Reiner at the field to watch him practice.”

  
“I’ll see you later then,” Annie said. Bertholdt left with his coffees and headed to the football field. He saw Leonard walking in his direction and tried to ignore.

  
“Hey Hoover going to meet your boyfriend?” Leonard said mockingly.

 

“No I’m going to cash in my Money in the Bank and win the Summer Slam,” Bertholdt replied sarcastically.

 

“Well don’t go spreading your fairy dust around, it might be contagious,” Leonard said. Bertholdt knew he could take this guy in a fight and he wouldn’t be the first biphobe he’s put in a headlock.

  
“Leonard I am eight inches taller than you, try anything and I will spear you,” Bertholdt told him with a slight threatening tone.

  
“What is that a euphemism?” Leonard asked him. God this guy was a moron.

  
“It’s a fucking wrestling term Leonard, it’s one of Roman Reign’s four signature wrestling moves, now do me a favour and go crawl under your rock and leave me the fuck alone or so help me I will hurt you,” Bertholdt shouted at him.

  
“Okay I’m going Jesus, calm down,” Leonard said starting to back away from him. Bertholdt glared at him and continued on his way to the field, he hated that jackass.

 

* * *

 

 

On the field Reiner saw Bertholdt approaching but he could see seething anger in his eyes.

 

“Hey Jean walk with me,” Reiner said as the team headed to the bleachers. “Hey Bert, Jean and I were talking about the benefit, apparently half the team are all Cater Waiters too.”  


“That’s great, here’s your coffee, ignore the finger indents I had a run in with an idiot,” Bertholdt said aggrivated, handing over the coffee.

  
“Whoa Bertholdt who pissed you off?” Jean asked him.

  
“Fucking Leonard Smith.”

 

“Oh I hate that guy, he thinks he’s hot shit because his daddy owns the biggest record label in this state,” Jean said.

  
“He’s a jerk, told me to keep it in the closet and to stop spreading my fairy dust around,” Bertholdt said.

  
“What kind of insult is that?” Jean asked slightly confused.

  
“Are you being serious right now?” Bertholdt said to him in a flat tone.

  
“Hey don’t let this Leonard guy get to you, if he’s a dick to you again I’ll deal with him, I’m over six feet tall and like two hundred pounds of muscle,” Reiner said.

  
“No I can take care of him, he might act tough but I’ve pinned guys larger than him,” Bertholdt said.

  
“Have you now, I thought you just did track and field and gymnastics?” Reiner asked him.

 

“Well when track season is over, I’m on the Wrestling team.”  
  
“Well why don’t you stay and watch, maybe you’ll get inspired,” Reiner said to him. They walked over to the bleachers, there were several students hanging around including Mikasa. Bertholdt sat down several seats up and opened up his lyric book. It had random words and phrases jotted down and various little doodles including a tiny red panda screaming into a microphone. He opened to a blank page and took a sip of his coffee and grabbed his pen from his pocket.

 

“Something original, going to be hard when every idea I have already exists,” he said to himself. He watched the team discussing their next match and Reiner drink his coffee, maybe he could write a song about Reiner. He wrote down Reiner’s name and started to attach words to it in a strange word tree: Strength, Power, Teamwork, Titan, Bear, blond, hazel, all words that had no real meaning but all had a connection to him. Feeling the sting of writer’s block he got out his iPod started listening to one of his playlists. He stared at the words and started to chew on the end of the pen in thought. The track then changed to You Are The Only One by Sergey Lazarev, as he listened to the lyrics and looked at the word Titan, he got an idea and then wrote down a single line:

 

_We make love like Titans breaking walls_

 

It was a strange line that on paper made absolutely no sense, but he understood it clearly. What he had shared with Reiner had been passionate, filled with hot lust that boiled to his core and burned a blinding white when he felt that peak of pure pleasure.

 

“We make love like Titans breaking walls, fiery passion that melts the stars from the sky, shattering the balance that chains us all,” he sang softly. “And when we find peace in the mess of our rage, it’s a beautiful disaster.” He wrote down the lyrics, it was a chorus, now he needed the hook and verses, but it wasn’t a ballad, no it had to be like Poets of the Fall, the lyrics needed to have power behind them. He started writing down more words and phrases, stringing sentences together and connecting the theme, there had to be a story behind the song.

  
“I need my laptop,” he said to himself. Bertholdt put his notebook and pen away into his bag and stood up to walk down the bleachers.

  
“You off so soon?” Reiner asked him as Bertholdt approached him.

 

“Inspiration has struck and I need my laptop, I will call you later,” Bertholdt replied giving him a strong kiss that seemed to make his inspiration burn brighter. He set off back to the dorms, he had to get this down before it left his head and he’d be back at square one.


	14. The Halloween Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Halloween night arrives.

Tuesday evening approached as Bertholdt stood in front of the mirror in the dorm room, he had blue sparkling wrestling trunks, black knee high boots, knee pads and elbow pads.

 

“I’m going to freeze to death tonight,” he said looking at his costume.

  
“I think you look great, especially in those short shorts, are you even wearing underwear?” Reiner asked him from the doorway.  
  
“Of course I am, I am not going commando in this weather,” Bertholdt said to him as he turned around. Reiner had donned his Sexy Fireman outfit, which was just the fireman trousers and suspenders and a hat with heavy boots.

  
“Well it’s too late for me to get mine,” Reiner said. They went into the kitchen where Levi and Eren were dressed as two Vampires and Ymir and Krista were dressed as Knight and Princess.

  
“Check us out, I’m her Champion and she’s my Queen,” Ymir said.

  
“So a normal Tuesday night outfit for you,” Bertholdt retorted. There was a knock at the door and Bertholdt opened it to see Annie dressed as a Zombie Nurse and Armin as Beetlejuice. “Annie you made it and so did Beetlejuice apparently.”

 

“We figured we’d go classic costumes, I see you’re making your stripper debut,” Annie said to him.

  
“I’m a Wrestler, I don’t know which one though, I’m too skinny and pale to be Roman Reigns.”

 

“You could be Shaemus,” Armin suggested.

  
“I’m not ginger and I don’t think I have enough testosterone to grow a beard like him,” Bertholdt replied.

  
“You are Finn Balor, we discussed this, he is the hottest of the WWE men,” Reiner said.

  
“Once again I have to inform you that The Miz is the hottest man, and Asuka is a Goddess, it’s no contest,” Bertholdt said to him.

  
“We can discuss this later, let’s roll on down the Union, Halloween!” Reiner said shouting the word Halloween which erupted a cheer from everyone.

 

* * *

 

 

The walk down to the Union was freezing as the temperature had dropped and there were teeny flakes of snow that disappeared as soon as they hit the ground. Bertholdt regretted not taking his jacket, his nipples were ready to start cutting glass. The Union however was warm and filled with disco lights and lots of students in costumes. When they had all rounded up a couple tables to sit around Annie immediately brought over a round of Tequila, two shakers of salt and sliced up lemons.

  
“Alright everyone, drink the shot, lick the salt and suck on the lemon, it’ll get you buzzing,” she ordered to everyone.

 

“And it’ll warm me up,” Bertholdt muttered to himself as he shook some salt onto his hand.

  
“I’ve an idea,” Reiner said taking the salt shaker and shaking some salt onto Bertholdt’s neck. He then downed his shot and started to lick the salt off of Bertholdt’s neck which then translated into nibbling. It was too good to resist, but there were people.

  
“Okay, okay, can I have my shot now?” Bertholdt asked as he pushed Reiner away.

  
“Yes you may,” Reiner said before jamming the lemon slice into his mouth. Bertholdt downed his shot, licked the salt from his hand and bit into a lemon slice.

  
“That is awful,” Bertholdt said as he put the lemon back on the tray. The next hour that followed was shots and dancing to the latest hits being played by the DJ. Everyone cleared some room so Bertholdt could show off his moves dancing to Kesha’s _Let ‘Em Talk_ in what was dubbed the ‘dance circle’ Krista joined in shortly after and then Reiner jumped in to Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa’s _One Kiss_. When the music started to delve into 90s college rock they all took a breather at their table.

 

“This Halloween beats out last years,” Annie said as she checked her make-up.

 

“Definitely, we should go back to ours for the after party,” Eren said.

  
“Agreed, I want to keep partying,” Reiner said, his arm around Bertholdt. Bertholdt then saw Leonard and his goons walking by and nudged Reiner.

 

“Careful now, we have a douchebag walking by,” he said to the group.

  
“Oh God I hate that guy,” Annie said as she spotted Leonard approaching them. “He can’t even play guitar let alone write a song.”

 

“Well, well who’ve we got here, the bitch and the fairy from class, I’m surprised you two even have friends let alone boyfriends,” Leonard said to them.

 

“Jealous Smith?” Annie asked him sarcastically.

  
“As if I’d be jealous of that mess right there,” Leonard retorted pointing to Bertholdt.

  
“Well your mum and dad weren’t calling me a mess last night, in fact when I was finished, they were both a mess,” Bertholdt said to him with a grin that seethed with loathing. Everyone broke out into a chorus of ohhh’s and Ymir stood up.

  
“You just got served Smith, now roll along and leave us be like a good little boy,” said to him. Leonard scoffed and walked off with his friends. “We’re moving this party along.” Ymir told them.

  
“To Armin’s,” Reiner declared.

 

* * *

 

 

Everyone made the trek back to Eren and Armin’s dorm where they put on Spotify and broke out some of the left over alcohol from the party several weeks before. As everyone chilled out on the sofa’s Bertholdt sat in Reiner’s lap as they talked.

  
“You stood up to him well, I guess you’ve done that a few times,” Reiner said to him.

  
“You learn to develop a sharp tongue when people call you stupid things like fairy and fake, a powerful left hook can also shut people up,” Bertholdt replied.

  
“So why does that guy hate you so much to be a biphobic tool?”

  
“Honestly I think he’s jealous that I’m actually talented and he has to pay people to write his music.”

  
“I can believe that, you’re a musical genius…with great abs,” Reiner said poking Bertholdt’s stomach.

 

“Come on now, no love for my great ass?” Bertholdt asked him. Reiner responded by grabbing his butt and squeezed hard.

 

“I never said I only loved your abs, I love your ass too.” Bertholdt kissed Reiner and then remembered, Reiner owed him a story.

  
“You know, you still owe me a dirty story, what was the story you were going to tell me at the party?” Bertholdt asked him.

  
“Nope you have to give me a blow job first,” Reiner reminded.

 

“I gave you one yesterday morning before breakfast.”

  
“Oh yeah, that was a good morning, alright this story involves…whipped cream, the backstage of our production of The Wizard of Oz…and the jock I kissed from the kissing booth.”

 

“Dear God what did you do to him?” Bertholdt asked.

 

“I said it was juvenile, I kind of got the guy confused after the kissing booth, he started wondering if he was into guys so a year later when I was in sophomore we were putting on a production of Wizard of Oz and Annie, Marcel and I had joined up for the extra credit to be stage hands, jock guy was there, his name was Travis, and he started talking to me and said he wanted to kiss me again ‘to test a theory’ he told me,” Reiner said to him

 

“And did you?” Bertholdt asked as he adjusted himself in Reiner’s lap to hide Reiner’s impending erection.

 

“Oh I told him we’d have to do more than kissing to really tell, so some afternoons we’d meet up and kiss in his car, Travis was so into it,” Reiner said.  
  
“And you were into Travis,” Bertholdt guessed.

 

“I wanted to get into his pants so badly, well after several afternoons of just kissing, he still couldn’t figure it out so I told him he was going to have to whip it out, and he thought it was a good idea to do that in the middle of rehearsal while the actors were reading lines.”

 

“So where does the whipped cream come in?”

 

“Oh I was eating that because I stole it from home economics, so I’m chugging cream and he walks up to me, unzips and says ‘suck it Reiner’,” Reiner said.

 

“What did you do next?”

 

“I found us a quiet corner, got on my knees, and sucked his dick till it blew like the whipped cream can did in his hand the very same moment, I had cream all in my hair and cum on my face,” Reiner said.

 

“My story’s better, but what happened after that?” Bertholdt asked.

  
“He came to the conclusion that yes he was into men, me specifically, it wouldn’t last though, he was afraid to come out, which I get,” Reiner replied.

  
“Are you two going to participate or just cuddle on the couch?” Annie called over to them from the kitchen counter.

 

“Participate in what exactly?” Reiner asked her.

  
“We’re going to play Cards Against Humanity, losers must down a shot,” she said to them.

  
“I think we’re good,” Reiner said, he was more interested in having some alone time with Bertholdt. They stayed on the sofa as the others played Cards Against Humanity in the kitchen. Bertholdt would have played but he was enjoying the time with Reiner.

 

“We could move this along back to mine or sneak into Armin’s room,” Reiner suggested.

  
“Let’s move this to Armin’s room, I don’t think they’d mind, so long as we’re still here,” Bertholdt replied. Reiner grinned, moved his arm under Bertholdt’s legs and stood up, lifting him to he was carrying him bridal style.

 

“Let’s go then.”


	15. Afterglow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reiner and Bertholdt try to get a little privacy.

Inside Armin’s room, Bertholdt could only cringe as Reiner decided to try to striptease out of his costume which ended quickly when his managed to hit himself in the face with his suspender clip.

 

“You are bad at this, I’d tell you to sit down and watch a professional but I can’t really strip out of this,” Bertholdt said pointing to his blue spandex shorts.

  
“You could always dance for me, you were good at the fountain, and sometimes I try and get a glimpse through the door of your dance class when I’m heading to the gym,” Reiner told him.

 

“I thought that was you earlier today.”

  
“So show me some moves, let’s pretend I’m a wealthy business man with money to burn and you’re the exotic male dancer I’ve paid to watch writhe about all over me,” Reiner said as he pulled out Armin’s desk chair and sat in it. Bertholdt rolled his eyes and stood up.

 

“This stays between us,” he said.

  
“My lips are sealed,” Reiner agreed. They could hear the thumping beats of Ariana Grande’s _Into You_ from the other room and Bertholdt watched as Reiner relaxed himself in the chair and rubbed his fingers together pretending to be holding money. He slowly swayed his hips as he walked to towards Reiner, leaned over and placed a finger to Reiner’s lips.

  
“You don’t say anything,” he whispered and leaned back to start moving his body to the thumping beats. Reiner seemed slightly hypnotised by the way his boyfriend’s hips swayed, he was tempted to reach out but as his hand started to move, Bertholdt pinned it down the chair arm.

  
“Clients don’t touch, that costs extra,” Bertholdt whispered to him leaning close.

  
“I’ll pay you double,” Reiner found himself saying, he saw Bertholdt grin and lean further in straddling Reiner’s lap and then giving him a kiss that felt dirty to taste.

 

“Well then enjoy the show.” Reiner felt Bertholdt start slowly grinding on him, letting Reiner’s hands caress his body.

  
“Sing for me,” Reiner begged, he wanted to hear his voice, something seductive to go with the movement. Bertholdt smiled and moved his hands to Reiner’s face, he opened his mouth to start singing before they heard a strange noise from Armin’s wardrobe and whispers.

 

“Who’s there?” Bertholdt said turning to the wardrobe, not moving. The door opened and he and Reiner saw Sasha and Connie sitting in the wardrobe, laughing, stoned out of their minds and dressed as Joker and Harley Quinn.

  
“No keep going, it’s getting to the good part,” Sasha said before giggling some more.

  
“What are you two doing in there?” Reiner asked as he leaned forward and Bertholdt stood up.

 

“Well we came here earlier to get ready for the party and we decided to go and have a snack before meeting you at the union, so I got out the brownies I made,” Sasha explained. Bertholdt chuckled and folded his arms over his chest.

 

“How long have you two been in there?” he asked them.  


“What time is it?” Connie asked him.  
  
“It’s eleven,” Bertholdt replied. Connie and Sasha looked at each other before busting into laughter. “Let’s get them outside.” He and Reiner helped Sasha and Connie out of the wardrobe and took them into the kitchen. Everyone was surprised to see Connie and Sasha when Bertholdt explained they had gotten high off pot brownies and decided to hide in the wardrobe.

  
“Well why don’t you guys join a new round of Cards against Humanity,” Annie suggested.

  
“I like sound of that,” Bertholdt agreed. Sasha then pouted a little.

  
“Oh I wanted to keep watching the show about the wealthy client and the exotic male dancer,” she said. Everyone then looked at Reiner and Bertholdt in confusion.

  
“She’s talking crazy, deal me in,” Bertholdt said trying to push the attention back to the cards.

 

Around two o’clock in the morning, the party started to die down, Sasha and Connie had sobered up a little and left to go order pizza back to her dorm. Krista and Ymir decided to retire back to their dorm and Eren and Levi had gone into Eren’s room but not before Levi made a lewd Vampire pun, leaving only Armin, Annie, Bertholdt and Reiner.

  
“What are your plans then?” Annie asked them as she tried to sit upright.

 

“We should head back, I don’t want to pass out here,” Bertholdt said, he’d lost six rounds of Cards against Humanity in a row and was drunk on rum shots. He stood up from the sofa and then fell back down. “I can’t walk.”

  
“I can, I’ll call you tomorrow Annie,” Reiner said standing up and lifting Bertholdt and putting him over his shoulder.

 

“Stay safe kids,” Annie said pointing to them as they left the dorm. It was a short walk back to Bertholdt’s dorm room, he gave Reiner the key so they could get in. Inside his room, Reiner lay Bertholdt gently down on his bed.

  
“How are you such a lightweight?” Reiner asked him.

  
“I’m a skinny boy,” Bertholdt replied as he sat up.

 

“You’re a lightweight, it’s a shame I couldn’t see the rest of the show.”

 

“I’d give you more than a show.”

 

“You’re drunk.”

  
“I lost six rounds, I deserve to be drunk,” Bertholdt said, he could feel the slippery slope of the blues about to hit unless he heard something positive to keep him happy.

  
“You Bertholdt are one crazy cat, but I love it, maybe you can dance for me another night,” Reiner said.

  
“Maybe,” Bertholdt said as he glanced up at the photographs on his noticeboard. “If I can learn to walk again.”

 

“You need to sleep, you’ll know how to walk in the morning,” Reiner told him.

  
“Sure thing,” Bertholdt agreed, he was starting to feel sleepy. He lay back as Reiner lay down beside him, they were still in their costumes but exhausted. It wasn’t long before Bertholdt fell asleep.

 

* * *

 

 

The alarm was loud and it hurt to hear, Bertholdt opened one eye, feeling a thick pounding headache, it was eight o’clock and once again he had moved in his sleep and was now hanging off his bed, shoulders on the floor keeping him in an uncomfortable position. He grabbed the edge of the bed to pull himself but the hangover was overpowering, he groaned and let go and just stared up at the ceiling, letting the alarm continuously beep.

  
“What is that noise?” he heard Reiner ask.

  
“My alarm, turn it off, I can’t move,” Bertholdt said. Reiner sat up and pressed the off button, seeing Bertholdt in his new position, he gave him a bewildered look.

  
“Why are you down there?”

 

“I’m surprised you haven’t figured out that I move in my sleep,” Bertholdt said as he grabbed Reiner’s hand as he helped lift him back onto the bed.  
  
“I do, I just thought you were a fidget-kind of sleeper not an acrobatics kind of sleeper.”

 

“I can be both, but I am way too hungover for class today, I might have to lie in bed all day,” Bertholdt said as he flopped back onto the bed.

  
“I’ll join you, I don’t have classes on Wednesday’s anyway, we can stay in,” Reiner said to him as he lay back on the bed. Bertholdt slowly sat up and got up off his bed, he looked in the mirror to see his hair was badly messed up.

 

“Good Christ, I need coffee,” he said and opened the door and walked to the kitchen. Reiner looked at the pictures on the notice board, there were a lot of them, Bertholdt with his parents, one of him and his mother with her wearing a T-shirt that read: Proud of his Pride, a picture of Bertholdt and Ymir at Pride sporting their respective flags and several ones of him performing with his violin. Then he saw one of Bertholdt and Joseph, they were sitting on a fence wearing sunglasses and he could see Joseph’s hand around Bertholdt’s waist. He looked at the photo, did Bertholdt still hold feelings for Joseph? Reiner’s phone then buzzed in the pocket of the fireman costume and he unlocked it to see a picture of James wearing his underwear but still exposing his penis and a message saying: _Miss it yet?_ Reiner growled and deleted the text and photo. He couldn’t take no for an answer. He got out of the bed and walked into the kitchen to see Bertholdt brewing coffee.

 

“When was that picture of you and Joseph taken?” Reiner asked him.

 

“Summer before I started College, Joseph and I had very different plans even though we were staying the town,” Bertholdt told him. Reiner clutched his phone in his hand, if only it could have been that easy with him and James.


End file.
